\  At 


AR- 


THE 


GREAT  WAR  SYNDICATE 


BY 


FRANK    R.    STOCKTON 

Author  of  "  The  Lady  or  the  Tiger,"  "  Rudder  Grange, 

"  The  Casting  Azvay  of  Mrs.  Leeks  and  Mrs. 

Aleshine^  "  What  Might  Have  Been 

Expected"  etc.,  etc. 


NEW    YORK 

DODD,    MEAD    &     COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1889,  by 

P.  F.   COLLIER, 
in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  Washington,  D.  C 


THE 

/'# 

GREAT  ¥AE  SYNDICATE. 


IN  the  spring  of  a  certain  year,  not  far 
from  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
when  the  political  relations  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  became 
so  strained  that  careful  observers  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic  were  forced  to  the 
belief  that  a  serious  break  in  these  rela 
tions  might  be  looked  for  at  any  time,  the 
fishing  schooner  "  Eliza  Drum "  sailed 
from  a  port  in  Maine  for  the  banks  of 
Newfoundland. 

It  was  in  this  year  that  a  new  system  of 
protection  for  American  fishing  vessels  had 
been  adopted  in  Washington.  Every  fleet 
of  these  vessels  was  accompanied  by  one 
or  more  United  States  cruisers,  which  re 
mained  on  the  fishing  grounds,  not  only 
for  the  purpose  of  warning  unwary  Ameri 
can  craft  who  might  approach  too  near  the 
three-mile  limit,  but  also  to  overlook  the 

28701 


4       '[THE  GEEAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

action  of  the  British  rayal  vessels  on  the 
coast,  and  to  interfere,  at  least  by  protest, 
with  such  seizures  of  American  fishing 
boats  as  might  appear  to  be  unjust.  In 
the  opinion  of  all  persons  of  sober  judg- 
ment,  there  was  nothing  in  the  condition 
of  affairs  at  this  time  so  dangerous  to  the 
peace  of  the  two  countries  as  the  presence 
of  these  American  cruisers  in  the  fishing 
waters. 

The  "  Eliza  Drum  "  was  late  in  her  arri 
val  on  the  fishing  grounds,  and  having, 
under  orders  from  Washington,  reported 
to  the  commander  of  the  "  Lennehaha," 
the  United  States  vessel  in  charge  at  that 
place,  her  captain  and  crew  went  vigorous 
ly  to  work  to  make  up  for  lost  time.  They 
worked  so  vigorously,  and  with  eyes  so  sin 
gle  to  the  catching  of  fish,  that  on  the 
morning  of  the  day  after  their  arrival,  they 
were  hauling  up  cod  at  a  point  which,  ac 
cording  to  the  nationality  of  the  calcula 
tor,  might  be  two  and  three-quarters  or 
three  and  one-quarter  miles  from  the 
Canadian  coast. 

In  consequence  of  this  inattention  to 
the  apparent  extent  of  the  marine  mile, 
the  "Eliza  Drum,"  a  little  before  noon, 
was  overhauled  and  seized  by  the  British 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.          5 

cruiser,  "Dog  Star."  A  few  miles  away 
the  "  Lennehaha  "  had  perceived  the  dan 
gerous  position  of  the  "  Eliza  Drum,"  and 
had  started  toward  her  to  warn  her  to  take 
a  less  doubtful  position.  But  before  she 
arrived  the  capture  had  taken  place. 
When  he  reached  the  spot  where  the 
"  Eliza  Drum  "  had  been  fishing,  the  com 
mander  of  the  "  Lennehaha  "  made  an  obser 
vation  of  the  distance  from  the  shore,  and 
calculated  it  to  be  more  than  three  miles. 
When  he  sent  an  officer  in  a  boat  to  the 
"  Dog  Star  "  to  state  the  result  of  his  com 
putations,  the  captain  of  the  British  vessel 
replied  that  he  was  satisfied  the  distance 
was  less  than  three  miles,  and  that  he  was 
now  about  to  take  the  "  Eliza  Drum  "  into 
port. 

On  receiving  this  information,  the  com 
mander  of  the  "Lennehaha"  steamed 
closer  to  the  "  Dog  Star,"  and  informed 
her  captain,  by  means  of  a  speaking- 
trumpet,  that  if  he  took  the  "  Eliza  Drum  " 
into  a  Canadian  port,  he  would  first  have 
to  sail  over  his  ship.  To  this  the  captain 
of  the  "  Dog  Star  "  replied  that  he  did  not 
in  the  least  object  to  sail  over  the  "  Len 
nehaha,"  and  proceeded  to  put  a  prize 
crew  on  board  the  fishing  vessel. 


6          THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

At  this  juncture  the  captain  of  the 
"  Eliza  Drum "  ran  up  a  large  American 
flag ;  in  five  minutes  afterward  the  captain 
of  the  prize  crew  hauled  it  down ;  in  less 
than  ten  minutes  after  this  the  "  Lenne- 
haha  "  and  the  "  Dog  Star  "  were  blazing 
at  each  other  with  their  bow  guns.  The 
spark  had  been  struck. 

The  contest  was  not  a  long  one.  The 
"  Dog  Star  "  was  of  much  greater  tonnage 
and  heavier  armament  than  her  antagonist, 
and  early  in  the  afternoon  she  steamed  for 
St.  John's,  taking  with  her  as  prizes  both 
the  "Eliza  Drum"  and  the  "Lennehaha." 

All  that  night,  at  every  point  in  the 
United  States  which  was  reached  by  tele 
graph,  there  burned  a  smothered  fire  ;  and 
the  next  morning,  when  the  regular  and 
extra  editions  of  the  newspapers  were 
poured  out  upon  the  land,  the  fire  burst 
into  a  roaring  blaze.  From  lakes  to  gulf, 
from  ocean  to  ocean,  on  mountain  and 
plain,  in  city  and  prairie,  it  roared  and 
blazed.  Parties,  sections,  politics,  were  all 
forgotten.  Every  American  formed  part 
of  an  electric  system ;  the  same  fire  flashed 
into  every  soul.  No  matter  what  might 
be  thought  on  the  morrow,  or  in  the  com 
ing  days  which  might  bring  better  under- 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.          1 

standing,  this   day   the   unreasoning    fire 
blazed  and  roared. 

With  morning  newspapers  in  their 
hands,  men  rushed  from  the  breakfast- 
tables  into  the  streets  to  meet  their  fellow- 
men.  What  was  it  that  they  should  do  ? 

Detailed  accounts  of  the  affair  came 
rapidly,  but  there  was  nothing  in  them  to 
quiet  the  national  indignation  ;  the  Amer 
ican  flag  had  been  hauled  down  by  Eng 
lishmen,  an  American  naval  vessel  had 
been  fired  into  and  captured;  that  was 
enough!  No  matter  whether  the  "Eliza 
Drum  "  was  within  the  three-mile  limit  or 
not !  No  matter  which  vessel  fired  first ! 
If  it  were  the  "Lennehaha,"  the  more 
honour  to  her ;  she  ought  to  have  done  it ! 
From  platform,  pulpit,  stump,  and  editorial 
office  came  one  vehement,  passionate  shout 
directed  toward  Washington. 

Congress  was  in  session,  and  in  its  halls 
the  fire  roared  louder  and  blazed  higher 
than  on  mountain  or  plain,  in  city  or 
prairie.  No  member  of  the  Government, 
from  President  to  page,  ventured  to  oppose 
the  tempestuous  demands  of  the  people. 
The  day  for  argument  upon  the  exciting 
question  had  been  a  long  and  weary  one, 
and  it  had  gone  by.  In  less  than  a  week 


8          THE  GEE  AT  WAE   SYNDICATE. 

the  great  shout  of  the  people  was  answered 
by  a  declaration  of  war  against  Great 
Britain. 

When  this  had  been  done,  those  who 
demanded  war  breathed  easier,  but  those 
who  must  direct  the  war  breathed  harder. 

It  was  indeed  a  time  for  hard  breathing, 
but  the  great  mass  of  the  people  perceived 
no  reason  why  this  should  be.  Money 
there  was  in  vast  abundance.  In  every 
State  well-drilled  men,  by  thousands,  stood 
ready  for  the  word  to  march,  and  the  mili 
tary  experience  and  knowledge  given  by  a 
great  war  was  yet  strong  upon  the  nation. 

To  the  people  at  large  the  plan  of  the 
war  appeared  a  very  obvious  and  a  very 
simple  one.  Canada  had  given  the 
offence,  Canada  should  be  made  to  pay 
the  penalty.  In  a  very  short  time,  one 
hundred  thousand,  two  hundred  thousand, 
five  hundred  thousand  men,  if  necessary, 
could  be  made  ready  for  the  invasion  of 
Canada.  From  platform,  pulpit,  stump, 
and  editorial  office  came  the  cry :  — 

"  On  to  Canada  !  " 

At  the  seat  of  Government,  however, 
the  plan  of  the  war  did  not  appear  so 
obvious,  so  simple.  Throwing  a  great 
army  into  Canada  was  all  well  enough, 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

and  that  army  would  probably  do  well 
enough ;  but  the  question  which  produced 
hard  breathing  in  the  executive  branch  of 
the  Government  was  the  immediate  pro 
tection  of  the  sea-coast,  Atlantic,  Gulf,  and 
even  Pacific. 

In  a  storm  of  national  indignation  war 
had  been  declared  against  a  power  which 
at  this  period  of  her  history  had  brought 
up  her  naval  forces  to  a  point  double  in 
strength  to  that  of  any  other  country  in 
the  world.  And  this  war  had  been  de 
clared  by  a  nation  which,  comparatively 
speaking,  possessed  no  naval  strength  at 
all. 

For  some  years  the  United  States  navy 
had  been  steadily  improving,  but  this  im 
provement  was  not  sufficient  to  make  it 
worthy  of  reliance  at  this  crisis.  As  has 
been  said,  there  was  money  enough,  and 
every  ship-yard  in  the  country  could  be  set 
to  work  to  build  ironclad  men-of-war ;  but 
it  takes  a  long  time  to  build  ships,  and 
England's  navy  was  afloat.  It  was  the 
British  keel  that  America  had  to  fear. 

By  means  of  the  continental  cables  it 
was  known  that  many  of  the  largest  mail 
vessels  of  the  British  transatlantic  lines, 
which  had  been  withdrawn  upon  the 


10        THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

declaration  of  war,  were  preparing  in 
British  ports  to  transport  troops  to  Can 
ada.  It  was  not  impossible  that  these 
great  steamers  might  land  an  army  in 
Canada  before  an  American  army  could 
be  organized  and  marched  to  that  province. 
It  might  be  that  the  United  States  would 
be  forced  to  defend  her  borders,  instead  of 
invading  those  of  the  enemy. 

In  every  fort  and  navy-yard  all  was 
activity ;  the  hammering  of  iron  went  on 
by  day  and  by  night ;  but  what  was  to  be 
done  when  the  great  ironclads  of  England 
hammered  upon  our  defences  ?  How  long 
would  it  be  before  the  American  flag 
would  be  seen  no  more  upon  the  high 
seas? 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Government 
found  its  position  one  of  perilous  responsi 
bility.  A  wrathful  nation  expected  of  it 
more  than  it  could  perform. 

All  over  the  country,  however,  there 
were  thoughtful  men,  not  connected  with 
the  Government,  who  saw  the  perilous 
features  of  the  situation  ;  and  day  by  day 
these  grew  less  afraid  of  being  considered 
traitors,  and  more  willing  to  declare  their 
convictions  of  the  country's  danger. 
Despite  the  continuance  of  the  national 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.        11 

enthusiasm,  doubts,  perplexities,  and  fears 
began  to  show  themselves. 

In  the  States  bordering  upon  Canada  a 
reactionary  feeling  became  evident.  Unless 
the  United  States  navy  could  prevent 
England  from  rapidly  pouring  into  Canada, 
not  only  her  own  troops,  but  perhaps  those 
of  allied  nations,  these  Northern  States 
might  become  the  scene  of  warfare,  and 
whatever  the  issue  of  the  contest,  their 
lands  might  be  ravished,  their  people 
suffer. 

From  many  quarters  urgent  demands 
were  now  pressed  upon  the  Government. 
From  the  interior  there  were  clamours  for 
troops  to  be  massed  on  the  Northern  fron 
tier,  and  from  the  seaboard  cities  there 
came  a  cry  for  ships  that  were  worthy  to 
be  called  men-of-war, — ships  to  defend  the 
harbours  and  bays,  ships  to  repel  an  inva 
sion  by  sea.  Suggestions  were  innumer 
able.  There  was  no  time  to  build,  it  was 
urged;  the  Government  could  call  upon 
friendly  nations.  But  wise  men  smiled 
sadly  at  these  suggestions ;  it  was  difficult 
to  find  a  nation  desirous  of  a  war  with 
England. 

In  the  midst  of  the  enthusiasms,  the 
fears,  and  the  suggestions,  came  reports  of 


12        THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

the  capture  of  American  merchantmen  by 
fast  British  cruisers.  These  reports  made 
the  American  people  more  furious,  the 
American  Government  more  anxious. 

Almost  from  the  beginning  of  this  period 
of  national  turmoil,  a  party  of  gentlemen 
met  daily  in  one  of  the  large  rooms  in  a 
hotel  in  New  York.  At  first  there  were 
eleven  of  these  men,  all  from  the  great 
Atlantic  cities,  but  their  number  increased 
by  arrivals  from  other  parts  of  the  country, 
until  at  last  they  numbered  twenty-three. 
These  gentlemen  were  all  great  capitalists, 
and  accustomed  to  occupying  themselves 
with  great  enterprises.  By  day  and  by 
night  they  met  together  with  closed  doors, 
until  they  had  matured  the  scheme  which 
they  had  been  considering.  As  soon  as 
this  work  was  done,  a  committee  was  sent 
to  Washington,  to  submit  a  plan  to  the 
Government. 

These  twenty-three  men  had  formed 
themselves  into  a  Syndicate,  with  the 
object  of  taking  entire  charge  of  the  war 
between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain. 

This  proposition  wras  an  astounding  one, 
but  the  Government  was  obliged  to  treat 
it  with  respectful  consideration.  The 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       13 

men  who  offered  it  were  a  power  in  the 
land,  —  a  power  which  no  government 
could  afford  to  disregard. 

The  plan  of  the  Syndicate  was  compre 
hensive,  direct,  and  simple.  It  offered  to 
assume  the  entire  control  and  expense  of 
the  war,  and  to  effect  a  satisfactory  peace 
within  one  year.  As  a  guarantee  that  this 
contract  would  be  properly  performed,  an 
immense  sum  of  money  would  be  deposited 
in  the  Treasury  at  Washington.  Should 
the  Syndicate  be  unsuccessful,  this  sum 
would  be  forfeited,  and  it  would  receive 
no  pay  for  anything  it  had  done. 

The  sum  to  be  paid  by  the  Government 
to  the  Syndicate,  should  it  bring  the  war 
to  a  satisfactory  conclusion,  would  depend 
upon  the  duration  of  hostilities.  That  is 
to  say,  that  as  the  shorter  the  duration  of 
the  war,  the  greater  would  be  the  benefit 
to  the  country,  therefore,  the  larger  must 
be  the  pay  to  the  Syndicate.  According 
to  the  proposed  contract,  the  Syndicate 
would  receive,  if  the  war  should  continue 
for  a  year,  one-quarter  the  sum  stipulated 
to  be  paid  if  peace  should  be  declared  in 
three  months. 

If  at  any  time  during  the  conduct  of  the 
war  by  the  Syndicate  an  American  seaport 


14        THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

should  be  taken  by  the  enemy,  or  a  Brit 
ish  force  landed  on  any  point  of  the  sea- 
coast,  the  contract  should  be  considered  at 
an  end,  and  security  and  payment  for 
feited.  If  any  point  on  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  United  States  should  be 
taken  and  occupied  by  the  enemy,  one 
million  dollars  of  the  deposited  security 
should  be  forfeited  for  every  such  occupa 
tion,  but  the  contract  should  continue. 

It  was  stipulated  that  the  land  and 
naval  forces  of  the  United  States  should 
remain  under  the  entire  control  of  the 
Government,  but  should  be  maintained  as 
a  defensive  force,  and  not  brought  into 
action  unless  any  failure  on  the  part  of 
the  Syndicate  should  render  such  action 
necessary. 

The  state  of  feeling  in  governmental 
circles,  and  the  evidences  of  alarm  and  dis 
trust  which  were  becoming  apparent  in 
Congress  and  among  the  people,  exerted 
an  important  influence  in  favour  of  the 
Syndicate.  The  Government  caught  at 
its  proposition,  not  as  if  it  were  a  straw, 
but  as  if  it  were  a  life-raft.  The  men  who 
offered  to  relieve  the  executive  depart 
ments  of  their  perilous  responsibilities 
were  men  of  great  ability,  prominent  posi- 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       15 

tions,  and  vast  resources,  whose  vast  en^ 
terprises  had  already  made  them  known 
all  over  the  globe.  Such  men  were  not 
likely  to  jeopardize  their  reputations  and 
fortunes  in  a  case  like  this,  unless  they 
had  well-founded  reasons  for  believing 
that  they  would  be  successful.  Even  the 
largest  amount  stipulated  to  be  paid  them 
in  case  of  success  would  be  less  than  the 
ordinary  estimates  for  the  military  and 
naval  operations  which  had  been  antici 
pated  ;  and  in  case  of  failure,  the  amount 
forfeited  would  go  far  to  repair  the  losses 
which  might  be  sustained  by  the  citizens 
of  the  various  States. 

At  all  events,  should  the  Syndicate  be 
allowed  to  take  immediate  control  of  the 
war,  there  would  be  time  to  put  the  army 
and  navy,  especially  the  latter,  in  better 
condition  to  carry  on  the  contest  in  case 
of  the  failure  of  the  Syndicate.  Organiza 
tion  and  construction  might  still  go  on, 
and,  should  it  be  necessary,  the  army  and 
navy  could  step  into  the  contest  fresh  and 
well  prepared. 

All  branches  of  the  Government  united 
in  accepting  the  offer  of  the  Syndicate. 
The  contract  was  signed,  and  the  world 
waited  to  see  what  would  happen  next. 


16        THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

The  influence  which  for  years  had  been 
exerted  by  the  interests  controlled  by  the 
men  composing  the  Syndicate,  had  its  ef 
fect  in  producing  a  popular  confidence  in 
the  power  of  the  members  of  the  Syndicate 
to  conduct  a  war  as  successfully  as  they 
had  conducted  other  gigantic  enterprises. 
Therefore,  although  predictions  of  disaster 
came  from  many  quarters,  the  American 
public  appeared  willing  to  wait  with  but 
moderate  impatience  for  the  result  of  this 
novel  undertaking. 

The  Government  now  proceeded  to  mass 
troops  at  important  points  on  the  northern 
frontier ;  forts  were  supplied  with  men 
and  armaments,  all  coast  defences  were 
put  in  the  best  possible  condition,  the 
navy  was  stationed  at  important  ports, 
and  work  at  the  ship-yards  went  on.  But 
without  reference  to  all  this,  the  work  of 
the  Syndicate  immediately  began. 

This  body  of  men  were  of  various  poli 
tics  and  of  various  pursuits  in  life.  But 
politics  were  no  more  regarded  in  the 
work  they  had  undertaken  than  they 
would  have  been  in*  the  purchase  of  land 
or  of  railroad  iron.  No  manifestoes  of 
motives  and  intentions  were  issued  to  the 
public.  The  Syndicate  simply  went  to 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       17 

work.  There  could  be  no  doubt  that  early 
success  would  be  a  direct  profit  to  it,  but 
there  could  also  be  no  doubt  that  its  suc 
cess  would  be  a  vast  benefit  and  profit,  not 
only  to  the  business  enterprises  in  which 
these  men  were  severally  engaged,  but  to 
the  business  of  the  whole  country.  To 
save  the  United  States  from  a  dragging 
war,  and  to  save  themselves  from  the  ef 
fects  of  it,  were  the  prompting  motives  for 
the  formation  of  the  Syndicate. 

Without  hesitation,  the  Syndicate  deter 
mined  that  the  war  in  which  it  was  about 
to  engage  should  be  one  of  defence  by 
means  of  offence.  Such  a  war  must  neces 
sarily  be  quick  and  effective  ;  and  with  all 
the  force  of  their  fortunes,  their  minds, 
and  their  bodies,  its  members  went  to  work 
to  wage  this  war  quickly  and  effectively. 

All  known  inventions  and  improvements 
in  the  art  of  war  had  been  thoroughly 
considered  by  the  Syndicate,  and  by  the 
eminent  specialists  whom  it  had  enlisted 
in  its  service.  Certain  recently  perfected 
engines  of  war,  novel  in  nature,  were  the 
exclusive  property  of  the  Syndicate.  It 
was  known,  or  surmised,  in  certain  quar 
ters  that  the  Syndicate  had  secured  posses 
sion  of  important  warlike  inventions ;  but 


18        THE   GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

what  they  were  and  how  they  acted  was  a 
secret  carefully  guarded  and  protected. 

The  first  step  of  the  Syndicate  was  to 
purchase  from  the  United  States  Govern 
ment  ten  war-vessels.  These  were  of  me 
dium  size  and  in  good  condition,  but  they 
were  of  an  old-fashioned  type,  and  it  had 
not  been  considered  expedient  to  put  them 
in  commission.  This  action  caused  sur 
prise  and  disappointment  in  many  quar 
ters.  It  had  been  supposed  that  the 
Syndicate,  through  its  agents  scattered 
all  over  the  world,  would  immediately 
acquire,  by  purchase  or  lease,  a  fleet  of  fine 
ironclads  culled  from  various  maritime 
powers.  But  the  Syndicate  having  no 
intention  of  involving,  or  attempting  to 
involve,  other  countries  in  this  quarrel, 
paid  no  attention  to  public  opinion,  and 
went  to  work  in  its  own  way. 

Its  vessels,  eight  of  which  were  on  the 
Atlantic  coast  and  two  on  the  Pacific,  were 
rapidly  prepared  for  the  peculiar  service  in 
which  they  were  to  be  engaged.  The  re 
sources  of  the  Syndicate  were  great,  and 
in  a  very  short  time  several  of  their  ves 
sels,  already  heavily  plated  with  steel, 
were  furnished  with  an  additional  outside 
armour,  formed  of  strips  of  elastic  steel, 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       19 

each  reaching  from  the  gunwales  nearly 
to  the  surface  of  the  water.  These  strips, 
about  a  foot  wide,  and  placed  an  inch  or 
two  apart,  were  each  backed  by  several 
powerful  air-buffers,  so  that  a  ball  striking 


SECTIONAL  VIE-W  or  SIDE  OF  REPELLER  No.  1. 
A,  spring-tempered  bars;  B,  air-buffers;  c,  iron  deck;  D,  teak 
lining;  E,  teak  braces. 

one  or  more  of  them  would  be  deprived  of 
much  of  its  momentum.  The  experiments 
upon  the  steel  spring  and  buffers  adopted 
by  the  Syndicate  showed  that  the  force  of 
the  heaviest  cannonading  was  almost  dead 
ened  by  the  powerful  elasticity  of  this 
armour. 


20        THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE, 

The  armament  of  each  vessel  consisted 
of  but  one  gun,  of  large  calibre,  placed  on 
the  forward  deck,  and  protected  by  a  bomb 
proof  covering.  Each  vessel  was  manned 
by  a  captain  and  crew  from  the  merchant 
service,  from  whom  no  warlike  duties  were 
expected.  The  fighting  operations  were 
in  charge  of  a  small  body  of  men,  com 
posed  of  two  or  three  scientific  specialists, 
and  some  practical  gunners  and  their 
assistants.  A  few  bomb-proof  canopies 
and  a  curved  steel  deck  completed  the 
defences  of  the  vessel. 

Besides  equipping  this  little  navy,  the 
Syndicate  set  about  the  construction  of 
certain  sea-going  vessels  of  an  extraordi 
nary  kind.  So  great  were  the  facilities  at 
its  command,  and  so  thorough  and  com 
plete  its  methods,  that  ten  or  a  dozen 
ship-yards  and  foundries  were  set  to  work 
simultaneously  to  build  one  of  these  ships. 
In  a  marvellously  short  time  the  Syndicate 
possessed  several  of  them  ready  for  action. 

These  vessels  became  technically  known 
as  "  crabs."  They  were  not  large,  and  the 
only  part  of  them  which  projected  above  the 
water  was  the  middle  of  an  elliptical  deck, 
slightly  convex,  and  heavily  mailed  with 
ribs  of  steel.  These  vessels  were  fitted 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.        21 

with  electric  engines  of  extraordinary 
power,  and  were  capable  of  great  speed. 
At  their  bows,  fully  protected  by  the  over 
hanging  deck,  was  the  machinery  by  which 
their  peculiar  work  was  to  be  accomplished. 
The  Syndicate  intended  to  confine  itself  to 
marine  operations,  and  for  the  present  it 
was  contented  with  these  two  classes  of 
vessels. 


SECTIONAL  VIEW  OF  REPELLER'S  Bow,  SHOWING 
A,  gigantic  gun  used  in  projecting  the  instantaneous  motor-, 
BB,  incline  elevator  used  in  loading  gun;  c,  loading  chamber; 
D,  bomb-proof  hood  to  gun. 

The  armament  for  each  of  the  large 
vessels,  as  has  been  said  before,  consisted  of 
a  single  gun  of  long  range,  and  the  ammu 
nition  was  confined  entirely  to  a  new  style 
of  projectile,  which  had  never  yet  been 
used  in  warfare.  The  material  and  con 
struction  of  this  projectile  were  known 
only  to  three  members  of  the  Syndicate, 
who  had  invented  and  perfected  it,  and  it 
was  on  account  of  their  possession  of  this 


22        THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

secret  that  they  had  been  invited  to  join 
that  body. 

This  projectile  was  not,  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  the  word,  an  explosive,  and  was 
named  by  its  inventors,  "  The  Instan 
taneous  Motor."  It  was  discharged  from 
an  ordinary  cannon,  but  no  gunpowder  or 
other  explosive  compound  was  used  to 
propel  it.  The  bomb  possessed  in  itself 
the  necessary  power  of  propulsion,  and  the 
gun  was  used  merely  to  give  it  the  proper 
direction. 

These  bombs  were  cylindrical  in  form, 
and  pointed  at  the  outer  end.  They  were 
filled  with  hundreds  of  small  tubes,  each 
radiating  outward  from  a  central  line. 
Those  in  the  middle  third  of  the  bomb 
pointed  directly  outward,  while  those  in 
its  front  portion  were  inclined  forward  at 
a  slight  angle,  and  those  in  the  rear  portion 
backward  at  the  same  angle.  One  tube  at 
the  end  of  the  bomb,  and  pointing  directly 
backward,  furnished  the  motive  power. 

Each  of  these  tubes  could  exert  a  force 
sufficient  to  move  an  ordinary  train  of  pas 
senger  cars  one  mile,  and  this  power  could 
be  exerted  instantaneously,  so  that  the  dif 
ference  in  time  in  the  starting  of  a  train 
at  one  end  of  the  mile  and  its  arrival  at  the 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       23 

other  would  not  be  appreciable.  The  dif 
ference  in  concussionary  force  between  a 
train  moving  at  the  rate  of  a  mile  in  two 
minutes,  or  even  one  minute,  and  another 
train  which  moves  a  mile  in  an  instant,  can 
easily  be  imagined. 

In  these  bombs,  those  tubes  which  might 
direct  their  powers  downward  or  laterally 
upon  the  earth  were  capable  of  instanta 
neously  propelling  every  portion  of  solid 
ground  or   rock  to  a  distance   of  two  or 
three  hundred  yards,  while  the  particles  of 
objects  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  were  in 
stantaneously  removed  to  a  far  greater  dis 
tance.    The  tube  which  propelled  the  bomb 
was  of  a  force  graduated  according  to  cir 
cumstances,  and  it  would  carry  a  bomb  to 
as  great  a  distance  as  accurate  observation 
for  purposes  of  aim  could  be  made.     Its 
force  was  brought  into  action  while  in  the 
cannon  by  means  of  electricity,  while  the 
same  effect  was  produced  in  the  other  tubes 
by  the  concussion  of  the  steel  head  against 
the  object  aimed  at. 

What  gave  the  tubes  their  power  was 
the  jealously  guarded  secret. 

The  method  of  aiming  was  as  novel  as 
the  bomb  itself.  In  this  process  nothing 
depended  on  the  eyesight  of  the  gunner ; 


24        THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

the  personal  equation  was  entirely  elimi 
nated.  The  gun  was  so  mounted  that  its 
direction  was  accurately  indicated  by  grad 
uated  scales ;  there  was  an  instrument 
which  was  acted  upon  by  the  dip,  rise,  or 
roll  of  the  vessel,  and  which  showed  at 
any  moment  the  position  of  the  gun  with 
reference  to  the  plane  of  the  sea-surface. 

Before  the  discharge  of  the  cannon  an 
observation  was  taken  by  one  of  the  scien 
tific  men,  which  accurately  determined  the 
distance  to  the  object  to  be  aimed  at,  and 
reference  to  a  carefully  prepared  mathe 
matical  table  showed  to  what  points  on 
the  graduated  scales  the  gun  should  be  ad 
justed;  and  the  instant  that  the  muzzle  of 
the  cannon  was  in  the  position  that  it  was 
when  the  observation  was  taken,  a  button 
was  touched  and  the  bomb  was  instanta 
neously  placed  on  the  spot  aimed  at.  The 
exactness  with  which  the  propelling  force 
of  the  bomb  could  be  determined  was  an 
important  factor  in  this  method  of  aiming. 

As  soon  as  three  of  the  spring-armoured 
vessels  and  five  "  crabs "  were  completed, 
the  Syndicate  felt  itself  ready  to  begin  op 
erations.  It  was  indeed  time.  The  seas 
had  been  covered  with  American  and 
British  merchantmen  hastening  homeward, 


THE  GEE  AT  WAE   SYNDICATE.       25 

or  to  friendly  ports,  before  the  actual  com 
mencement  of  hostilities.  But  all  had  not 
been  fortunate  enough  to  reach  safety 
within  the  limits  of  time  allowed,  and  sev 
eral  American  merchantmen  had  been  al 
ready  captured  by  fast  British  cruisers. 

The  members  of  the  Syndicate  well  un 
derstood  that  if  a  war  was  to  be  carried  on 
as  they  desired,  they  must  strike  the  first 
real  blow.  Comparatively  speaking,  a  very 
short  time  had  elapsed  since  the  declara 
tion  of  war,  and  the  opportunity  to  take 
the  initiative  was  still  open. 

It  was  in  order  to  take  this  initiative 
that,  in  the  early  hours  of  a  July  morning, 
two  of  the  Syndicate's  armoured  vessels, 
each  accompanied  by  a  crab,  steamed  out 
of  a  New  England  port,  and  headed  for  the 
point  on  the  Canadian  coast  where  it  had 
been  decided  to  open  the  campaign. 

The  vessels  of  the  Syndicate  had  no 
individual  names.  The  spring-armoured 
ships  were  termed  "  repellers,"  and  were 
numbered,  and  the  crabs  were  known  by 
the  letters  of  the  alphabet.  Each  repeller 
was  in  charge  of  a  Director  of  Naval  Oper 
ations  ;  and  the  whole  naval  force  of  the 
Syndicate  was  under  the  command  of  a 
Director-in-chief.  On  this  momentous  oc- 


26        THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

casion  this  officer  was  on  board  of  Repeller 
No.  1,  and  commanded  the  little  fleet. 

The  repellers  had  never  been  vessels  of 
great  speed,  and  their  present  armour  of 
steel  strips,  the  lower  portion  of  which  was 
frequently  under  water,  considerably  re 
tarded  their  progress;  but  each  of  them 
was  taken  in  tow  by  one  of  the  swift  and 
powerful  crabs,  and  with  this  assistance 
they  made  very  good  time,  reaching  their 
destination  on  the  morning  of  the  second 
day. 

It  was  on  a  breezy  day,  with  a  cloudy 
sky,  and  the  sea  moderately  smooth,  that 
the  little  fleet  of  the  Syndicate  lay  to  off 
the  harbour  of  one  of  the  principal  Cana 
dian  seaports.  About  five  miles  away  the 
headlands  on  either  side  of  the  mouth  of 
the  harbour  could  be  plainly  seen.  It  had 
been  decided  that  Repeller  No.  1  should 
begin  operations.  Accordingly,  that  ves 
sel  steamed  about  a  mile  nearer  the  har 
bour,  accompanied  by  Crab  A.  The  other 
repeller  and  crab  remained  in  their  first 
position,  ready  to  act  in  case  they  should 
be  needed. 

The  approach  of  two  vessels,  evidently 
men-of-war,  and  carrying  the  American 
flag,  was  perceived  from  the  forts  and  re- 


THE  GREAT  WAE   SYNDICATE.       27 

doubts  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbour,  and 
the  news  quickly  spread  to  the  city  and  to 
the  vessels  in  port.  Intense  excitement 
ensued  on  land  and  water,  among  the  citi 
zens  of  the  place  as  well  as  its  defenders. 
Every  man  who  had  a  post  of  duty  was  in 
stantly  at  it;  and  in  less  than  half  an  hour 
the  British  man-of-war  "  Scarabseus,"  which 
had  been  lying  at  anchor  a  short  distance 
outside  the  harbour,  came  steaming  out  to 
meet  the  enemy.  There  were  other  naval 
vessels  in  port,  but  they  required  more 
time  to  be  put  in  readiness  for  action. 

As  soon  as  the  approach  of  "Scara- 
bseus  "  was  perceived  by  Repeller  No.  1,  a 
boat  bearing  a  white  flag  was  lowered  from 
that  vessel  and  was  rapidly  rowed  toward 
the  British  ship.  When  the  latter  saw  the 
boat  coming  she  lay  to,  and  waited  its  arri 
val.  A  note  was  delivered  to  the  captain 
of  the  "  Sc'arabseus,"  in  which  it  was  stated 
that  the  Syndicate,  which  had  undertaken 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States  the  con 
duct  of  the  war  between  that  country  and 
Great  Britain,  was  now  prepared  to  de 
mand  the  surrender  of  this  city  with  its 
forts  and  defences  and  all  vessels  within 
its  harbour,  and,  as  a  first  step,  the  im 
mediate  surrender  of  the  vessel  to  the 


28        THE  GEE  AT  WAll   SYNDICATE. 

commander  of  which  this  note  was  deliv 
ered. 

The  overwhelming  effrontery  of  this 
demand  caused  the  commander  of  the 
"  Scarabseus  "  to  doubt  whether  he  had  to 
deal  with  a  raving  lunatic  or  a  blustering 
fool ;  but  he  informed  the  person  in  charge 
of  the  flag-of-truce  boat,  that  he  would 
give  him  fifteen  minutes  in  which  to  get 
back  to  his  vessel,  and  that  he  would  then 
open  fire  upon  that  craft. 

The  men  who  rowed  the  little  boat  were 
not  men-of-war's  men,  and  were  unaccus 
tomed  to  duties  of  this  kind.  In  eight 
minutes  they  had  reached  their  vessel,  and 
were  safe  on  board. 

Just  seven  minutes  afterward  the  first 
shot  came  from  the  "  Scarabaeus."  It 
passed  over  Repeller  No.  1,  and  that  ves 
sel,  instead  of  replying,  immediately 
steamed  nearer  her  adversary.  The  Direc- 
tor-in-chief  desired  to  determine  the  effect 
of  an  active  cannonade  upon  the  new 
armour,  and  therefore  ordered  the  vessel 
placed  in  such  a  position  that  the  English 
man  might  have  the  best  opportunity  for 
using  it  as  a  target. 

The  "  Scarabseus  "  lost  no  time  in  avail 
ing  herself  of  the  facilities  offered.  She 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       29 

was  a  large  and  powerful  ship,  with  a 
heavy  armament ;  and,  soon  getting  the 
range  of  the  Syndicate's  vessel,  she  hurled 
ball  after  ball  upon  her  striped  side.  Re- 
peller  No.  1  made  no  reply,  but  quietly 
submitted  to  the  terrible  bombardment. 
Some  of  the  great  shot  jarred  her  from 
bow  to  stern,  but  not  one  of  them  broke  a 
steel  spring,  nor  penetrated  the  heavy 
inside  plates. 

After  half  an  hour  of  this  work  the  Di- 
rector-in-chief  became  satisfied  that  the  new 
armour  had  well  acquitted  itself  in  the  se 
vere  trial  to  which  it  had  been  subjected. 
Some  of  the  air-buffers  had  been  disabled, 
probably  on  account  of  faults  in  their  con 
struction,  but  these  could  readily  be  re 
placed,  and  no  further  injury  had  been 
done  the  vessel.  It  was  not  necessary, 
therefore,  to  continue  the  experiment  any 
longer,  and  besides,  there  was  danger  that 
the  Englishman,  perceiving  that  his  antag 
onist  did  not  appear  to  be  affected  by  his 
fire,  would  approach  closer  and  endeavour 
to  ram  her.  This  was  to  be  avoided,  for 
the  "  Scarabseus  "  was  a  much  larger  ves 
sel  than  Repeller  No.  1,  and  able  to  run 
into  the  latter  and  sink  her  by  mere  pre 
ponderance  of  weight. 


30        THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

It  was  therefore  decided  to  now  test 
the  powers  of  the  crabs.  Signals  were 
made  from  Repeller  No.  1  to  Crab  A, 


MODE  OP  SIGNALLING  WITH  BLACK  SMOKE. 

which  had  been  lying  with  the  larger  ves 
sel  between  it  and  the  enemy.  These 
signals  were  made  by  jets  of  dense  black 
smoke,  which  were  ejected  from  a  small 
pipe  on  the  repeller.  These  slender  columns 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       31 

of  smoke  preserved  their  cylindrical  forms 
for  some  moments,  and  were  visible  at  a 
great  distance  by  day  or  night,  being  il 
lumined  in  the  latter  case  by  electric  light. 
The  length  and  frequency  of  these  jets 
were  regulated  by  an  instrument  in  the  Di 
rector's  roam.  Thus,  by  means  of  long  and 
short  puffs,  with  the  proper  use  of  inter 
vals,  a  message  could  be  projected  into  the 
air  as  a  telegraphic  instrument  would  mark 
it  upon  paper. 

In  this  manner  Crab  A  was  ordered  to 
immediately  proceed  to  the  attack  of  the 
"  Scarabaeus."  The  almost  submerged  ves 
sel  steamed  rapidly  from  behind  her  con 
sort,  and  made  for  the  British  man-of- 
war. 

When  the  latter  vessel  perceived  the 
approach  of  this  turtle-backed  object, 
squirting  little  jets  of  black  smoke  as  she 
replied  to  the  orders  from  the  repeller, 
there  was  great  amazement  on  board.  The 
crab  had  not  been  seen  before,  but  as  it 
came  rapidly  on  there  was  no  time  for 
curiosity  or  discussion,  and  several  heavy 
guns  were  brought  to  bear  upon  it.  It 
was  difficult  to  hit  a  rapidly  moving  flat 
object  scarcely  above  the  surface  of  the 
water  ;  and  although  several  shot  struck 


32        THE   GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

the  crab,  they  glanced  off  without  in  the 
least  interfering  with  its  progress. 

Crab  A  soon  came  so  near  the  "Scarabieus" 
that  it  was  impossible  to  depress  the  guns 
of  the  latter  so  as  to  strike  her.  The  great 
vessel  was,  therefore,  headed  toward  its  as 
sailant,  and  under  a  full  head  of  steam 
dashed  directly  at  it  to  run  it  down.  But 
the  crab  could  turn  as  upon  a  pivot,  and 
shooting  to  one  side  allowed  the  surging 
man-of-war  to  pass  it. 

Perceiving  instantly  that  it  would  be 
difficult  to  strike  this  nimble  and  almost 
submerged  adversary,  the  commander  of 
the  "  Scarabseus  "  thought  it  well  to  let  it 
alone  for  the  present,  and  to  bear  down 
with  all  speed  upon  the  repeller.  But  it 
was  easier  to  hit  the  crab  than  to  leave  it 
behind.  It  was  capable  of  great  speed, 
and,  following  the  British  vessel,  it  quickly 
came  up  with  her. 

The  course  of  the  "  Scarabieus  "  was  in 
stantly  changed,  and  every  effort  was 
made  to  get  the  vessel  into  a  position  to 
run  down  the  crab.  But  this  was  not  easy 
for  so  large  a  ship,  and  Crab  A  seemed  to 
have  no  difficulty  in  keeping  close  to  her 
stern. 

Several  machine-guns,  especially  adapted 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.        33 

for  firing  at  torpedo-boats  or  any  hostile 
craft  which  might  be  discovered  close  to  a 
vessel,  were  now  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
crab,  and  ball  after  ball  was  hurled  at  her. 
Some  of  these  struck,  but  glanced  off  with 
out  penetrating  her  tough  armour. 


SECTION  or  CRAB  A,  SHOWING  NIPPERS. 
A,  bomb-proof  roof ;  B,  water  line;  c,  interior  of  crab;  D,  joint 
of  nippers;  E,  arms  of  nippers;  FF,  rods  of  nippers  connecting 
with  electric  engine ;  G,  teak  lining  to  crab. 

These  manoeuvres  had  not  continued 
long,  when  the  crew  of  the  crab  was  ready 
to  bring  into  action  the  peculiar  apparatus 
of  that  peculiar  craft.  An  enormous  pair 
of  iron  forceps,  each  massive  limb  of  which 
measured  twelve  feet  or  more  in  length, 
was  run  out  in  front  of  the  crab  at  a  depth 


34        THE  GEE  AT  WAE   SYNDICATE. 

of  six  or  eight  feet  below  the  surface. 
These  forceps  were  acted  upon  by  an  elec 
tric  engine  of  immense  power,  by  which 
they  could  be  shut,  opened,  projected,  with 
drawn,  or  turned  and  twisted. 

The  crab  darted  forward,  and  in  the  next 
instant  the  great  teeth  of  her  pincers  were 
fastened  with  a  tremendous  grip  upon  the 
rudder  and  rudder-post  of  the  "  Scara- 
baeus." 

Then  followed  a  sudden  twist,  which 
sent  a  thrill  through  both  vessels  ;  a  crash ; 
a  backward  jerk  ;  the  snapping  of  a  chain ; 
and  in  a  moment  the  great  rudder,  with 
half  of  the  rudder-post  attached,  was  torn 
from  the  vessel,  and  as  the  forceps  opened 
it  dropped  to  leeward  and  hung  dangling 
by  one  chain. 

Again  the  forceps  opened  wide ;  again 
there  was  a  rush  ;  and  this  time  the  huge 
jaws  closed  upon  the  rapidly  revolving 
screw-propeller.  There  was  a  tremendous 
crash,  and  the  small  but  massive  crab 
turned  over  so  far  that  for  an  instant  one 
of  its  sides  was  plainly  visible  above  the 
water.  The  blades  of  the  propeller  were 
crushed  and  shivered ;  those  parts  of  the 
steamer's  engines  connecting  with  the  pro 
peller-shaft  were  snapped  and  rent  apart, 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       35 

while  the  propeller-shaft  itself  was  broken 
by  the  violent  stoppage. 

The  crab,  which  had  quickly  righted, 
now  backed,  still  holding  the  crushed  pro 
peller  in  its  iron  grasp,  and  as  it  moved 
away  from  the  "  Scarabseus,"  it  extracted 
about  forty  feet  of  its  propeller-shaft ; 
then,  opening  its  massive  jaws,  it  allowed 
the  useless  mass  of  iron  to  drop  to  the  bot 
tom  of  the  sea. 

Every  man  on  board  the  "  Scarabseus  " 
was  wild  with  amazement  and  excitement. 
Few  could  comprehend  what  had  hap 
pened,  but  this  very  quickly  became 
evident.  So  far  as  motive  power  was 
concerned,  the  "  Scarabseus "  was  totally 
disabled.  She  could  not  direct  her  course, 
for  her  rudder  was  gone,  her  propeller  was 
gone,  her  engines  were  useless,  and  she 
could  do  no  more  than  float  as  wind  or  tide 
might  move  her.  Moreover,  there  was  a 
jagged  hole  in  her  stern  where  the  shaft 
had  been,  and  through  this  the  water  was 
pouring  into  the  vessel.  As  a  man-of- 
war  the  "Scarabseus"  was  worthless. 

Orders  now  came  fast  from  Repeller  No. 
1,  which  had  moved  nearer  to  the  scene  of 
conflict.  It  was  to  be  supposed  that  the 
disabled  ship  was  properly  furnished  with 


3G        THE  GREAT  WAR    SYNDICATE. 

bulk-heads,  so  that  the  water  would  pene 
trate  no  farther  than  the  stern  compartment, 
and  that,  therefore,  she  was  in  no  danger 
of  sinking.  Crab  A  was  ordered  to  make 
fast  to  the  bow  of  the  "  Scarabseus,"  and 
tow  her  toward  two  men-of-war  who  were 
rapidly  approaching  from  the  harbour. 

This  proceeding  astonished  the  com 
mander  and  officers  of  the  "  Scarabaeus " 
almost  as  much  as  the  extraordinary  attack 
which  had  been  made  upon  their  ship. 
They  had  expected  a  demand  to  surrender 
and  haul  down  their  flag;  but  the  Di- 
rector-in-chief  on  board  Repeller  No.  1  was 
of  the  opinion  that  with  her  propeller  ex 
tracted  it  mattered  little  what  flag  she 
flew.  His  work  with  the  "  Scarabseus  " 
was  over ;  for  it  had  been  ordered  by  the 
Syndicate  that  its  vessels  should  not  en 
cumber  themselves  with  prizes. 

Towed  by  the  powerful  crab,  which  ap 
parently  had  no  fear  that  its  disabled 
adversary  might  fire  upon  it,  the  "  Scara- 
baeus"  moved  toward  the  harbour,  and 
when  it  had  come  within  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  of  the  foremost  British  vessel,  Crab 
A  cast  off  and  steamed  back  to  Repeller 
No.  1. 

The  other  English  vessels  soon  came  up, 


THE  GRtiAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       37 

and  each  lay  to  and  sent  a  boat  to  the 
"  Scarabseus."  After  half  an  hour's  con 
sultation,  in  which  the  amazement  of  those 
on  board  the  damaged  vessel  was  commu 
nicated  to  the  officers  and  crews  of  her 
two  consorts,  it  was  determined  that  the 
smaller  of  these  should  tow  the  disabled 
ship  into  port,  while  the  other  one,  in 
company  with  a  man-of-war  just  coming 
out  of  the  harbour,  should  make  an  attack 
upon  Repeller  No.  1. 

It  had  been  plainly  proved  that  ordinary 
shot  and  shell  had  no  effect  upon  this  craft; 
but  it  had  not  been  proved  that  she  could 
withstand  the  rams  of  powerful  iron 
clads.  If  this  vessel,  that  apparently  car 
ried  no  guns,  or,  at  least,  had  used  none, 
could  be  crushed,  capsized,  sunk,  or  in  any 
way  put  out  of  the  fight,  it  was  probable 
that  the  dangerous  submerged  nautical 
machine  would  not  care  to  remain  in  these 
waters.  If  it  remained  it  must  be  de 
stroyed  by  torpedoes. 

Signals  were  exchanged  between  the 
two  English  vessels,  and  in  a  very  short 
time  they  were  steaming  toward  the  repel- 
ler.  It  was  a  dangerous  thing  for  two  ves 
sels  of  their  size  to  come  close  enough 
together  for  both  to  ram  an  enemy  at  the 


38        THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

same  time,  but  it  was  determined  to  take 
the  risks  and  do  this,  if  possible ;  for  the 
destruction  of  the  repeller  was  obviously 
the  first  duty  in  hand. 

As  the  two  men-of-war  rapidly  approached 
Hepeller  No.  1,  they  kept  up  a  steady  fire 
upon  her ;  for  if  in  this  way  they  could 
damage  her,  the  easier  would  be  their  task. 
With  a  firm  reliance  upon  the  efficacy  of 
the  steel-spring  armour,  the  Director-in- 
chief  felt  no  fear  of  the  enemy's  shot  and 
shell ;  but  he  was  not  at  all  willing  that  his 
vessel  should  be  rammed,  for  the  conse 
quences  would  probably  be  disastrous. 
Accordingly  he  did  not  wait  for  the  ap 
proach  of  the  two  vessels,  but  steering 
seaward,  he  signalled  for  the  other  crab. 

When  Crab  B  made  its  appearance, 
puffing  its  little  black  jets  of  smoke,  as  it 
answered  the  signals  of  the  Director-in- 
chief,  the  commanders  of  the  two  British 
vessels  were  surprised.  They  had  imag 
ined  that  there  was  only  one  of  these 
strange  and  terrible  enemies,  and  had  sup 
posed  that  she  would  be  afraid  to  make  her 
peculiar  attack  upon  one  of  them,  because 
while  doing  so  she  would  expose  herself  to 
the  danger  of  being  run  down  by  the  other. 
But  the  presence  of  two  of  these  almost 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       39 

submerged  engines  of  destruction  entirely 
changed  the  situation. 

But  the  commanders  of  the  British  ships 
were  brave  men.  They  had  started  to  run 
down  the  strangely  armoured  American 
craft,  and  run  her  down  they  would,  if  they 
could.  They  put  on  more  steam,  and  went 
ahead  at  greater  speed.  In  such  a  furious 
onslaught  the  crabs  might  not  dare  to  at 
tack  them. 

But  they  did  not  understand  the  nature 
nor  the  powers  of  these  enemies.  In  less 
than  twenty  minutes  Crab  A  had  laid  hold 
of  one  of  the  men-of-war,  and  Crab  B  of 
the  other.  The  rudders  of  both  were  shat 
tered  and  torn  away ;  and  while  the  blades 
of  one  propeller  were  crushed  to  pieces, 
the  other,  with  nearly  half  its  shaft,  was 
drawn  out  and  dropped  into  the  ocean. 
Helplessly  the  two  men-of-war  rose  and 
fell  upon  the  waves. 

In  obedience  to  orders  from  the  repeller, 
each  crab  took  hold  of  one  of  the  disabled 
vessels,  and  towed  it  near  the  mouth  of 
the  harbour,  where  it  was  left. 

The  city  was  now  in  a  state  of  feverish 
excitement,  which  was  intensified  by  the 
fact  that  a  majority  of  the  people  did  not 
understand  what  had  happened,  while 


40        THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

those  to  whom  this  had  been  made  plain 
could  not  comprehend  why  such  a  thing 
should  have  been  allowed  to  happen. 
Three  of  Her  Majesty's  ships  of  war, 
equipped  and  ready  for  action,  had  sailed 
out  of  the  harbour,  and  an  apparently  in 
significant  enemy,  without  firing  a  gun, 
had  put  them  into  such  a  condition  that 
they  were  utterly  unfit  for  service,  and 
must  be  towed  into  a  dry  dock.  How 
could  the  Government,  the  municipality, 
the  army,  or  the  navy  explain  this  ? 

The  anxiety,  the  excitement,  the  nervous 
desire  to  know  what  had  happened,  and 
what  might  be  expected  next,  spread 
that  evening  to  every  part  of  the  Do 
minion  reached  by  telegraph. 

The  military  authorities  in  charge  of  the 
defences  of  the  city  were  as  much  dis 
turbed  and  amazed  by  what  had  happened 
as  any  civilian  could  possibly  be,  but  they 
had  no  fears  for  the  safety  of  the  place, 
for  the  enemy's  vessels  could  not  possibly 
enter,  nor  even  approach,  the  harbour. 
The  fortifications  on  the  heights  mounted 
guns  much  heavier  than  those  on  the  men- 
of-war,  and  shots  from  these  fired  from  an 
elevation  might  sink  even  those  "  under 
water  devils."  But.  more  than  on  the 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       41 

forts,  they  relied  upon  their  admirable 
system  of  torpedoes  and  submarine  bat 
teries.  With  these  in  position  and  ready 
for  action,  as  they  now  were,  it  was  impos 
sible  for  an  enemy's  vessel,  floating  on  the 
water  or  under  it,  to  enter  the  harbour 
without  certain  destruction. 

Bulletins  to  this  effect  were  posted  in 
the  city,  and  somewhat  allayed  the  popu 
lar  anxiety,  although  many  people,  who 
were  fearful  of  what  might  happen  next, 
left  by  the  evening  trains  for  the  interior. 
That  night  the  news  of  this  extraordinary 
affair  was  cabled  to  Europe,  and  thence 
back  to  the  United  States,  and  all  over  the 
world.  In  many  quarters  the  account  was 
disbelieved,  and  in  no  quarter  was  it  thor 
oughly  understood,  for  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  methods  of  operation  em 
ployed  by  the  crabs  were  not  evident  to 
those  on  board  the  disabled  vessels.  But 
everywhere  there  was  the  greatest  desire 
to  know  what  would  be  done  next. 

It  was  the  general  opinion  that  the  two 
armoured  vessels  were  merely  tenders  to 
the  submerged  machines  which  had  done 
the  mischief.  Having  fired  no  guns,  nor 
taken  any  active  part  in  the  combat,  there 
was  every  reason  to  believe  that  they  were 


42       THE  GREAT  WAR  SYNDICATE. 

intended  merely  as  bomb-proof  store-ships 
for  their  formidable  consorts.  As  these 
submerged  vessels  could  not  attack  a 
town,  nor  reduce  fortifications,  but  could 
exercise  their  power  only  against  vessels 
afloat,  it  was  plain  enough  to  see  that  the 
object  of  the  American  Syndicate  was  to 
blockade  the  port.  That  they  would  be 
able  to  maintain  the  blockade  when  the 
full  power  of  the  British  navy  should  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  them  was  generally 
doubted,  though  it  was  conceded  in  the 
most  wrathful  circles  that,  until  the  situa 
tion  should  be  altered,  it  would  be  unwise 
to  risk  valuable  war  vessels  in  encounters 
with  the  diabolical  sea-monsters  now  lying 
off  the  port. 

In  the  New  York  office  of  the  Syndi 
cate  there  was  great  satisfaction.  The 
news  received  was  incorrect  and  imperfect, 
but  it  was  evident  that,  so  far,  everything 
had  gone  well. 

About  nine  o'clock  the  next  morning, 
Repeller  No.  1,  with  her  consort  half  a 
mile  astern,  and  preceded  by  the  two 
crabs,  one  on  either  bow,  approached  to 
within  two  miles  of  the  harbour  mouth. 
The  crabs,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  ahead  of 
the  repeller,  moved  slowly;  for  between 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       43 

them  they  bore  an  immense  net,  three  or 
four  hundred  feet  long,  and  thirty  feet 
deep,  composed  of  jointed  steel  rods. 
Along  the  upper  edge  of  this  net  was  a 


MAP  OF  CANADIAN  CITY  AND  HARBOUR. 
A,  H.M.S.  " ScarabaeuB ; "    B,  Crab    A;    c,  Repeller  No.  1; 
D,  new  fort;  E,  old  fort;  r,  city;  G,  island;  H,  island. 

series  of  air-floats,  which  were  so  gradu 
ated  that  they  were  sunk  by  the  weight  of 
the  net  a  few  feet  below  the  surface  of  the 
water,  from  which  position  they  held  the 
net  suspended  vertically. 

This  net,  which  was  intended  to  protect 


44       THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

the  repeller  against  the  approach  of  sub 
marine  torpedoes,  which  might  be  directed 
from  the  shore,  was  anchored  at  each  end, 
two  very  small  buoys  indicating  its  posi 
tion.  The  crabs  then  falling  astern,  Re 
peller  No.  1  lay  to,  with  the  sunken  net 
between  her  and  the  shore,  and  prepared 
to  project  the  first  instantaneous  motor- 
bomb  ever  used  in  warfare. 

The  great  gun  in  the  bow  of  the  vessel 
was  loaded  with  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  powerful  motor-bombs,  and  the  spot 
to  be  aimed  at  was  selected.  This  was  a 
point  in  the  water  just  inside  of  the  mouth 
of  the  harbour,  and  nearly  a  mile  from  the 
land  on  either  side.  The  distance  of  this 
point  from  the  vessel  being  calculated,  the 
cannon  was  adjusted  at  the  angle  called 
for  by  the  scale  of  distances  and  levels, 
and  the  instrument  indicating  rise,  fall, 
and  direction  was  then  put  in  connection 
with  it. 

Now  the  Director-iii-chief  stepped  for 
ward  to  the  button,  by  pressing  which  the 
power  of  the  motor  was  developed.  The 
chief  of  the  scientific  corps  then  showed 
him  the  exact  point  upon  the  scale  which 
would  be  indicated  when  the  gun  was  in 
its  proper  position,  and  the  piece  was  then 


THE   GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       45 

moved  upon  its  bearings  so  as  to  approxi 
mate  as  nearly  as  possible  this  direction. 

The  bow  of  the  vessel  now  rose  upon 
the  swell  of  the  sea,  and  the  instant  that 
the  index  upon  the  scale  reached  the  de 
sired  point,  the  Director-in-chief  touched 
the  button. 

There  was  no  report,  no  smoke,  no  visi 
ble  sign  that  the  motor  had  left  the  can 
non  ;  but  at  that  instant  there  appeared, 
to  those  who  were  on  the  lookout,  from  a 
fort  about  a  mile  away,  a  vast  aperture  in 
the  waters  of  the  bay,  which  was  variously 
described  as  from  one  hundred  yards  to 
five  hundred  yards  in  diameter.  At  that 
same  instant,  in  the  neighbouring  head 
lands  and  islands  far  up  the  shores  of  the 
bay,  and  in  every  street  and  building  of 
the  city,  there  was  felt  a  sharp  shock,  as 
if  the  underlying  rocks  had  been  struck  by 
a  gigantic  trip-hammer. 

At  the  same  instant  the  sky  above  the 
spot  where  the  motor  had  descended  was 
darkened  by  a  wide-spreading  cloud.  This 
was  formed  of  that  portion  of  the  water  of 
the  bay  which  had  been  instantaneously 
raised  to  the  height  of  about  a  thousand 
feet.  The  sudden  appearance  of  this  cloud 
was  even  more  terrible  than  the  yawning 


46        THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

chasm  in  the  waters  of  the  bay  or  the 
startling  shock ;  but  it  did  not  remain 
long  in  view.  It  had  no  sooner  reached 
its  highest  elevation  than  it  began  to  de 
scend.  There  was  a  strong  sea-breeze  blow 
ing,  and  in  its  descent  this  vast  mass  of 
water  was  impelled  toward  the  land. 

It  came  down,  not  as  rain,  but  as  the 
waters  of  a  vast  cataract,  as  though  a 
mountain  lake,  by  an  earthquake  shock, 
had  been  precipitated  in  a  body  upon  a 
valley.  Only  one  edge  of  it  reached  the 
land,  and  here  the  seething  flood  tore 
away  earth,  trees,  and  rocks,  leaving  be 
hind  it  great  chasms  and  gullies  as  it 
descended  to  the  sea. 

The  bay  itself,  into  which  the  vast  body 
of  the  water  fell,  became  a  scene  of  surg 
ing  madness.  The  towering  walls  of  water 
which  had  stood  up  all  around  the  sud 
denly  created  aperture  hurled  themselves 
back  into  the  abyss,  and  down  into  the 
great  chasm  at  the  bottom  of  the  bay, 
which  had  been  made  when  the  motor 
sent  its  shock  along  the  great  rock  beds. 
Down  upon,  and  into,  this  roaring,  boil 
ing  tumult  fell  the  tremendous  cataract 
from  above,  and  the  harbour  became  one 
wild  expanse  of  leaping  maddened  waves, 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       47 

hissing  their  whirling  spray  high  into  the 
air. 

During  these  few  terrific  moments  other 
things  happened  which  passed  unnoticed 
in  the  general  consternation.  All  along 
the  shores  of  the  bay  and  in  front  of  the 
city  the  waters  seemed  to  be  sucked  away, 
slowly  returning  as  the  sea  forced  them 
to  their  level,  and  at  many  points  up  and 
down  the  harbour  there  were  submarine 
detonations  and  upheavals  of  the  water. 

These  were  caused  by  the  explosion,  by 
concussion,  of  every  torpedo  and  submarine 
battery  in  the  harbour ;  and  it  was  with 
this  object  in  view  that  the  instantaneous 
motor-bomb  had  been  shot  into  the  mouth 
of  the  bay. 

The  effects  of  the  discharge  of  the 
motor-bomb  astonished  and  even  startled 
those  on  board  the  repellers  and  the  crabs. 
At  the  instant  of  touching  the  button  a 
hydraulic  shock  was  felt  on  Repeller  No. 
1.  This  was  supposed  to  be  occasioned  by 
the  discharge  of  the  motor,  but  it  was  also 
felt  on  the  other  vessels.  It  was  the  same 
shock  that  had  been  felt  on  shore,  but  less 
in  degree.  A  few  moments  after  there 
was  a  great  heaving  swell  of  the  sea, 
which  tossed  and  rolled  the  four  vessels, 


48        THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

and  lifted  the  steel  protecting  net  so  high 
that  for  an  instant  parts  of  it  showed 
themselves  above  the  surface  like  glisten 
ing  sea-ghosts. 

Experiments  with  motor-bombs  had  been 
made  in  unsettled  mountainous  districts, 
but  this  was  the  first  one  which  had  ever 
exerted  its  power  under  water. 

On  shore,  in  the  forts,  and  in  the  city, 
no  one  for  an  instant  supposed  that  the 
terrific  phenomenon  which  had  just  oc 
curred  was  in  any  way  due  to  the  vessels 
of  the  Syndicate.  The  repellers  were  in 
plain  view,  and  it  was  evident  that  neither 
of  them  had  fired  a  gun.  Besides,  the 
firing  of  cannon  did  not  produce  such 
effects.  It  was  the  general  opinion  that 
there  had  been  an  earthquake  shock,  ac 
companied  by  a  cloud-burst  and  extraor 
dinary  convulsions  of  the  sea.  Such  a 
combination  of  elementary  disturbances 
had  never  been  known  in  these  parts  ;  and 
a  great  many  persons  were  much  more 
frightened  than  if  they  had  understood 
what  had  really  happened. 

In  about  half  an  hour  after  the  discharge 
of  the  motor-bomb,  when  the  sea  had  re 
sumed  its  usual  quiet,  a  boat  carrying  a 
white  flag  left  Repeller  No.  1,  rowed 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       49 

directly  over  the  submerged  net,  and 
made  for  the  harbour.  When  the  ap 
proach  of  this  flag-of-truce  was  perceived 
from  the  fort  nearest  the  mouth  of  the 
harbour,  it  occasioned  much  surmise.  Had 
the  earthquake  brought  these  Syndicate 
knaves  to  their  senses?  Or  were  they 
about  to  make  further  absurd  and  out 
rageous  demands?  Some  irate  officers 
were  of  the  opinion  that  enemies  like 
these  should  be  considered  no  better  than 
pirates,  and  that  their  flag-of-truce  should 
be  fired  upon.  But  the  commandant  of 
the  fort  paid  no  attention  to  such  coun 
sels,  and  sent  a  detachment  with  a  white 
flag  down  to  the  beach  to  meet  the  ap 
proaching  boat  and  learn  its  errand. 

The  men  in  the  boat  had  nothing  to  do 
but  to  deliver  a  letter  from  the  Director- 
in-chief  to  the  commandant  of  the  fort, 
and  then  row  back  again.  No  answer 
was  required. 

When  the  commandant  read  the  brief 
note,  he  made  no  remark.  In  fact,  he 
could  think  of  no  appropriate  remark 
to  make.  The  missive  simply  informed 
him  that  at  ten  o'clock  and  eighteen 
minutes  A.M.,  of  that  day,  the  first  bomb 
from  the  marine  forces  of  the  Syndicate 


50        TEE   GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

had  been  discharged  into  the  waters  of 
the  harbour.  At,  or  about,  two  o'clock 
P.M.,  the  second  bomb  would  be  dis 
charged  at  Fort  Pilcher.  That  was  all. 

What  this  extraordinary  message  meant 
could  not  be  imagined  by  any  officer  of 
the  garrison.  If  the  people  on  board  the 
ships  were  taking  advantage  of  the  earth 
quake,  and  supposed  that  they  could 
induce  British  soldiers  to  believe  that  it 
had  been  caused  by  one  of  their  bombs, 
then  were  they  idiots  indeed.  They 
would  fire  their  second  shot  at  Fort  Pil 
cher  !  This  was  impossible,  for  they  had 
not  yet  fired  their  first  shot.  These  Syn 
dicate  people  were  evidently  very  tricky, 
and  the  defenders  of  the  port  must  there 
fore  be  very  cautious. 

Fort  Pilcher  was  a  very  large  and  un 
finished  fortification,  on  a  bluff  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  harbour.  Work  had 
been  discontinued  on  it  as  soon  as  the 
Syndicate's  vessels  had  Appeared  off  the 
port,  for  it  was  not  desired  to  expose 
the  builders  and  workmen  to  a  possible 
bombardment.  The  place  was  now,  there 
fore,  almost  deserted ;  but  after  the  receipt 
of  the  Syndicate's  message,  the  comman 
dant  feared  that  the  enemy  might  throw 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       51 

an  ordinary  shell  into  the  unfinished 
works,  and  he  sent  a  boat  across  the  bay 
to  order  away  any  workmen  or  others  who 
might  be  lingering  about  the  place. 

A  little  after  two  o'clock  P.M.,  an  in 
stantaneous  motor-bomb  was  discharged 
from  Repeller  No.  1  into  Fort  Pilcher. 
It  was  set  to  act  five  seconds  after  impact 
with  the  object  aimed  at.  It  struck  in  a 
central  portion  of  the  unfinished  fort,  and 
having  described  a  high  curve  in  the  air, 
descended  not  only  with  its  own  motive 
power,  but  with  the  force  of  gravitation, 
and  penetrated  deep  into  the  earth. 

Five  seconds  later  a  vast  brown  cloud 
appeared  on  the  Fort  Pilcher  promontory. 
This  cloud  was  nearly  spherical  in  form, 
with  an  apparent  diameter  of  about  a 
thousand  yards.  At  the  same  instant  a 
shock  similar  to  that  accompanying  the 
first  motor-bomb  was  felt  in  the  city  and 
surrounding  country;  but  this  was  not  so 
severe  as  the  other,  for  the  second  bomb 
did  not  exert  its  force  upon  the  under 
lying  rocks  of  the  region  as  the  first  one 
had  done. 

The  great  brown  cloud  quickly  began 
to  lose  its  spherical  form,  part  of  it  de 
scending  heavily  to  the  earth,  and  part 


52       THE  GEE  AT  WAR  SYNDICATE. 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       53 

floating  away  in  vast  dust-clouds  borne 
inland  by  the  breeze,  settling  downward 
as  they  moved,  and  depositing  on  land, 
water,  ships,  houses,  domes,  and  trees  an 
almost  impalpable  powder. 

When  the  cloud  had  cleared  away  there 
were  no  fortifications,  and  the  bluff  on 
which  they  had  stood  had  disappeared. 
Part  of  'this  bluff  had  floated  away  on  the 
wind,  and  part  of  it  lay  piled  in  great 
heaps  of  sand  on  the  spot  where  its  rocks 
were  to  have  upheld  a  fort. 

The  effect  of  the  motor-bomb  was  fully 
observed  with  glasses  from  the  various 
fortifications  of  the  port,  and  from  many 
points  of  the  city  and  harbour ;  and  those 
familiar  with  the  effects  of  explosives 
were  not  long  in  making  up  their  minds 
what  had  happened.  They  felt  sure  that 
a  mine  had  been  sprung  beneath  Fort 
Pilcher  ;  and  they  were  now  equally  con 
fident  that  in  the  morning  a  torpedo  of 
novel  and  terrible  power  had  been  exploded 
in  the  harbour.  They  now  disbelieved  in 
the  earthquake,  and  treated  with  contempt 
the  pretence  that  shots  had  been  fired 
from  the  Syndicate's  vessel.  This  was 
merely  a  trick  of  the  enemy.  It  was  not 
even  likely  that  the  mine  or  the  torpedo 


54        THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

had  been  operated  from  the  ship.  These 
were,  in  all  probability,  under  the  control 
of  confederates  on  shore,  and  had  been  ex 
ploded  at  times  agreed  upon  beforehand. 
All  this  was  perfectly  plain  to  the  military 
authorities. 

But  the  people  of  the  city  derived  no 
comfort  from  the  announcement  of  these 
conclusions.  For  all  that  anybody  knew 
the  whole  city  might  be  undermined,  and 
at  any  moment  might  ascend  in  a  cloud 
of  minute  particles.  They  felt  that  they 
were  in  a  region  of  hidden  traitors  and 
bombs,  and  in  consequence  of  this  belief 
thousands  of  citizens  left  their  homes. 

That  afternoon  a  truce-boat  again  went 
out  from  Repeller  No.  1,  and  rowed  to  the 
fort,  where  a  letter  to  the  commandant  was 
delivered.  This,  like  the  other,  demanded 
no  answer,  and  the  boat  returned.  Later 
in  the  afternoon  the  two  repellers,  accom 
panied  by  the  crabs,  and  leaving  the  steel 
net  still  anchored  in  its  place,  retired  a 
few  miles  seaward,  where  they  prepared 
to  lay  to  for  the  night. 

The  letter  brought  by  the  truce-boat 
was  read  by  the  commandant,  surrounded 
by  his  officers.  It  stated  that  in  twenty- 
four  hours  from  time  of  writing  it,  which 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       55 

would  be  at  or  about  four  o'clock  on  the 
next  afternoon,  a  bomb  would  be  thrown 
into  the  garrisoned  fort,  under  the  com 
mand  of  the  officer  addressed.  As  this 
would  result  in  the  entire  destruction  of 
the  fortification,  the  commandant  was 
earnestly  counselled  to  evacuate  the  fort 
before  the-  hour  specified. 

Ordinarily  the  commandant  of  the  fort 
was  of  a  calm  and  unexcitable  tempera 
ment.  During  the  astounding  events  of 
that  day  and  the  day  before  he  had  kept 
his  head  cool ;  his  judgment,  if  not  correct, 
was  the  result  of  sober  and  earnest  con 
sideration.  But  now  he  lost  his  temper. 
The  unparalleled  effrontery  and  imperti 
nence  of  this  demand  of  the  American 
Syndicate  was  too  much  for  his  self-pos 
session.  He  stormed  in  anger. 

Here  was  the  culmination  of  the  knavish 
trickery  of  these  conscienceless  pirates 
who  had  attacked  the  port.  A  torpedo 
had  been  exploded  in  the  harbour,  an  un 
finished  fort  had  been  mined  and  blown  up, 
and  all  this  had  been  done  to  frighten  him 
—  a  British  soldier  —  in  command  of  a 
strong  fort  well  garrisoned  and  fully  sup 
plied  with  all  the  munitions  of  war.  In 
the  fear  that  his  fort  would  be  destroyed 


56       THE  GREAT  WAE   SYNDICATE. 

by  a  mystical  bomb,  he  was  expected  to 
march  to  a  place  of  safety  with  all  his 
forces".  If  this  should  be  done  it  would 
not  be  long  before  these  crafty  fellows 
would  occupy  the  fort,  and  with  its 
great  guns  turned  inland,  would  hold  the 
city  at  their  mercy.  There  could  be  no 
greater  insult  to  a  soldier  than  to  suppose 
that  he  could  be  gulled  by  a  trick  like 
this. 

No  thought  of  actual  danger  entered  the 
mind  of  the  commandant.  It  had  been 
easy  enough  to  sink  a  great  torpedo  in  the 
harbour,  and  the  unguarded  bluffs  of  Fort 
Pilcher  offered  every  opportunity  to  the 
scoundrels  who  may  have  worked  at  their 
mines  through  the  nights  of  several  months. 
But  a  mine  under  the  fort  which  he  com 
manded  was  an  impossibility  ;  its  guarded 
outposts  prevented  any  such  method  of 
attack.  At  a  bomb,  or  a  dozen,  or  a 
hundred  of  the  Syndicate's  bombs  he 
snapped  his  fingers.  He  could  throw 
bombs  as  well. 

Nothing  would  please  him  better  than 
that  those  ark-like  ships  in  the  offing 
should  come  near  enough  for  an  artillery 
fight.  A  few  tons  of  solid  shot  and  shell 
dropped  on  top  of  them  might  be  a  very 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       57 

conclusive  answer  to  their  impudent  de 
mands. 

The  letter  from  the  Syndicate,  together 
with  his  own  convictions  on  the  subject, 
were  communicated  by  the  commandant 
to  the  military  authorities  of  the  port,  and 
to  the  War  Office  of  the  Dominion.  The 
news  of  what  had  happened  that  day  had 
already  been  cabled  across  the  Atlantic 
back  to  the  United  States,  and  all  over  the 
world ;  and  the  profound  impression  cre 
ated  by  it  was  intensified  when  it  became 
known  what  the  Syndicate  proposed  to  do 
the  next  day.  Orders  and  advices  from 
the  British  Admiralty  and  War  Office 
sped  across  the  ocean,  and  that  night  few 
of  the  leaders  in  government  circles  in 
England  or  Canada  closed  their  eyes. 

The  opinions  of  the  commandant  of  the 
fort  were  received  with  but  little  favour  by 
the  military  and  naval  authorities.  Great 
preparations  were  already  ordered  to  repel 
and  crush  this  most  audacious  attack  upon 
the  port,  but  in  the  mean  time  it  was 
highly  desirable  that  the  utmost  caution 
and  prudence  should  be  observed.  Three 
men-of-war  had  already  been  disabled  by 
the  novel  and  destructive  machines  of  the 
enemy,  and  it  had  been  ordered  that  for 


58        TUE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

the  present  no  more  vessels  of  the  British 
navy  be  allowed  to  approach  the  crabs  of 
the  Syndicate. 

Whether  it  was  a  mine  or  a  bomb  which 
had  been  used  in  the  destruction  of  the 
unfinished  works  of  Fort  Pilcher,  it  would 
be  impossible  to  determine  until  an  official 
survey  had  been  made  of  the  ruins  ;  but, 
in  any  event,  it  would  be  wise  and  humane 
not  to  expose  the  garrison  of  the  fort  on 
the  south  side  of  the  harbour  to  the  danger 
which  had  overtaken  the  works  on  the 
opposite  shore.  If,  contrary  to  the  opinion 
of  the  commandant,  the  garrisoned  fort 
were  really  mined,  the  following  day 
would  probably  prove  the  fact.  Until 
this  point  should  be  determined  it  would 
be  highly  judicious  to  temporarily  evacu 
ate  the  fort.  This  could  not  be  followed 
by  occupation  of  the  works  by  the  enemy, 
for  all  approaches,  either  by  troops  in 
boats  or  by  bodies  of  confederates  by  land,  ' 
could  be  fully  covered  by  the  inland  re 
doubts  and  fortifications. 

When  the  orders  for  evacuation  reached 
the  commandant  of  the  fort,  he  protested 
hotly,  and  urged  that  his  protest  be  con 
sidered.  It  was  not  until  the  command 
had  been  reiterated  both  from  London  and 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       59 

Ottawa,  that  lie  accepted  the  situation,  and 
with  bowed  head  prepared  to  leave  his  post. 
All  night  preparations  for  evacuation  went 
on,  and  during  the  next  morning  the  gar 
rison  left  the  fort,  and  established  itself 
far  enough  away  to  preclude  danger  from 
the  explosion  of  a  mine,  but  near  enough 
to  be  available  in  case  of  necessity. 

During  this  morning  there  arrived  in  the 
offing  another  Syndicate  vessel.  This  had 
started  from  a  northern  part  of  the  United 
States,  before  the  repellers  and  the  crabs, 
and  it  had  been  engaged  in  laying  a  private 
submarine  cable,  which  should  put  the  office 
of  the  Syndicate  in  New  York  in  direct 
communication  with  its  naval  forces  en 
gaged  with  the  enemy.  Telegraphic  con 
nection  between  the  cable  boat  and  Re- 
peller  No.  1  having  been  established,  the 
Syndicate  soon  received  from  its  Director- 
in-chief  full  and  comprehensive  accounts 
of  what  had  been  done  and  what  it  was 
pro-posed  to  do.  Great  was  the  satisfaction 
among  the  members  of  the  Syndicate  when 
these  direct  and  official  reports  came  in. 
Up  to  this  time  they  had  been  obliged  to 
depend  upon  very  unsatisfactory  intelli 
gence  communicated  from  Europe,  which 
had  been  supplemented  by  wild  state- 


60        THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

ments  and  rumours  smuggled  across  the 
Canadian  border. 

To  counteract  the  effect  of  these,  a  full 
report  was  immediately  made  by  the  Syn 
dicate  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  and  a  bulletin  distinctly  describing 
what  had  happened  was  issued  to  the  people 
of  the  country.  These  reports,  which  re 
ceived  a  world-wide  circulation  in  the 
newspapers,  created  a  popular  elation  in 
the  United  States,  and  gave  rise  to  serious 
apprehensions  and  concern  in  many  other 
countries.  But  under  both  elation  and 
concern  there  was  a  certain  doubtfulness. 
So  far  the  Syndicate  had  been  successful ; 
but  its  style  of  warfare  was  decidedly  ex 
perimental,  and  its  forces,  in  numerical 
strength  at  least,  were  weak.  What  would 
happen  when  the  great  naval  power  of 
Great  Britain  should  be  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  Syndicate,  was  a  question  whose 
probable  answer  was  likely  to  cause  ap 
prehension  and  concern  in  the  United 
States,  and  elation  in  many  other  coun 
tries. 

The  commencement  of  active  hostilities 
had  been  precipitated  by  this  Syndicate. 
In  England  preparations  were  making  by 
day  and  by  night  to  send  upon  the  coast- 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE,        61 

lines  of  the  United  States  a  fleet  which,  in 
numbers  and  power,  would  be  greater  than 
that  of  any  naval  expedition  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  It  is  no  wonder  that  many 
people  of  sober  judgment  in  America  looked 
upon  the  affair  of  the  crabs  and  the  repel- 
lers  as  but  an  incident  in  the  beginning 
of  a  great  and  disastrous  war. 

On  the  morning  of  the  destruction  of 
Fort  Pilcher,  the  Syndicate's  vessels  moved 
toward  the  port,  and  the  steel  net  was 
taken  up  by  the  two  crabs,  and  moved  nearer 
the  mouth  of  the  harbour,  at  a  point  from 
which  the  fort,  now  in  process  of  evacua 
tion,  was  in  full  view.  When  this  had  been 
done,  Repeller  No.  2  took  up  her  position 
at  a  moderate  distance  behind  the  net,  and 
the  other  vessels  stationed  themselves  near 

by- 

The  protection  of  the  net  was  considered 
necessary,  for  although  there  could  be  no 
reasonable  doubt  that  all  the  torpedoes  in 
the  harbour  and  river  had  been  exploded, 
others  might  be  sent  out  against  the  Syn 
dicate's  vessels  ;  and  a  torpedo  under  a  crab 
or  a  repeller  was  the  enemy  most  feared 
by  the  Syndicate. 

About  three  o'clock  the  signals  between 
the  repellers  became  very  frequent,  and 


62        THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

soon  afterwards  a  truce-boat  went  out  from 
Repeller  No.  1.  This  was  rowed  with  great 
rapidity,  but  it  was  obliged  to  go  much 
farther  up  the  harbour  than  on  previous 
occasions,  in  order  to  deliver  its  message 
to  an  officer  of  the  garrison. 

This  was  to  the  effect  that  the  evacua 
tion  of  the  fort  had  been  observed  from 
the  Syndicate's  vessels,  and  although  it  had 
been  apparently  complete,  one  of  the  scien 
tific  corps,  with  a  powerful  glass,  had  dis 
covered  a  man  in  one  of  the  outer  redoubts, 
whose  presence  there  was  probably  un 
known  to  the  officers  of  the  garrison.  It 
was,  therefore,  earnestly  urged  that  this 
man  be  instantly  removed ;  and  in  order 
that  this  might  be  done,  the  discharge  of 
the  motor-bomb  would  be  postponed  half 
an  hour. 

The  officer  received  this  message,  and 
was  disposed  to  look  upon  it  as  a  new  trick ; 
but  as  no  time  was  to  be  lost,  he  sent  a 
corporal's  guard  to  the  fort,  and  there  dis 
covered  an  Irish  sergeant  by  the  name  of 
Kilsey,  who  had  sworn  an  oath  that  if 
every  other  man  in  the  fort  ran  away  like 
a  lot  of  addle-pated  sheep,  he  would  not  run 
with  them  ;  he  would  stand  to  his  post  to 
the  last,  and  when  the  couple  of  ships 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       63 

outside  had  got  through  bombarding  the 
stout  walls  of  the  fort,  the  world  would 
see  that  there  was  at  least  one  British 
soldier  who  was  not  afraid  of  a  bomb,  be  it 


THE  ARREST  OP  THE  IRISH 

little  or  big.  Therefore  he  had  managed 
to  elude  observation,  and  to  remain  be 
hind. 

The  sergeant  was  so  hot-headed  in  his 
determination  to  stand  by  the  fort,  that  it 
required  violence  to  remove  him ;  and  it 


64        THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE 

was  not  until  twenty  minutes  past  four 
that  the  Syndicate  observers  perceived  that 
he  had  been  taken  to  the  hill  behind  which 
the  garrison  was  encamped. 

As  it  had  been  decided  that  Repeller  No. 
2  should  discharge  the  next  instantaneous 
motor-bomb,  there  was  an  anxious  desire 
on  the  part  of  the  operators  on  that  vessel 
that  in  this,  their  first  experience,  they 
might  do  their  duty  as  well  as  their  com 
rades  on  board  the  other  repeller  had  done 
theirs.  The  most  accurate  observations, 
the  most  careful  calculations,  were  made 
and  re-made,  the  point  to  be  aimed  at  be 
ing  about  the  centre  of  the  fort. 

The  motor-bomb  had  been  in  the  cannon 
for  nearly  an  hour,  and  everything  had 
long  been  ready,  when  at  precisely  thirty 
minutes  past  four  o'clock  the  signal  to  dis 
charge  came  from  the  Director-in-chief : 
and  in  four  seconds  afterwards  the  index 
on  the  scale  indicated  that  the  gun  was  in 
the  proper  position,  and  the  button  was 
touched. 

The  motor-bomb  was  set  to  act  the  in 
stant  it  should  touch  any  portion  of  the 
fort,  arid  the  effect  was  different  from  that 
of  the  other  bombs.  There  was  a  quick, 
hard  shock,  but  it  was  all  in  the  air.  Thou- 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       65 

sands  of  panes  of  glass  in  the  city  and  in 
houses  for  miles  around  were  cracked  or 
broken,  birds  fell  dead  or  stunned  upon  the 
ground,  and  people  on  elevations  at  con 
siderable  distances  felt  as  if  they  had  re 
ceived  a  blow ;  but  there  was  no  trembling 
of  the  ground. 

As  to  the  fort,  it  had  entirely  disap 
peared,  its  particles  having  been  instanta 
neously  removed  to  a  great  distance  in  every 
direction,  falling  over  such  a  vast  expanse 
of  land  and  water  that  their  descent  was 
unobservable. 

In  the  place  where  the  fortress  had 
stood  there  was  a  wide  tract  of  bare  earth, 
which  looked  as  if  it  had  been  scraped  into 
a  staring  dead  level  of  gravel  and  clay. 
The  instantaneous  motor-bomb  had  been 
arranged  to  act  almost  horizontally. 

Few  persons,  except  those  who  from  a 
distance  had  been  watching  the  fort  with 
glasses,  understood  what  had  happened ; 
but  every  one  in  the  city  and  surrounding 
country  was  conscious  that  something  had 
happened  of  a  most  startling  kind,  and  that 
it  was  over  in  the  same  instant  in  which 
they  had  perceived  it.  Everywhere  there 
was  the  noise  of  falling  window-glass. 
There  were  those  who  asserted  that  for  an 


66       THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

instant  they  had  heard  in  the  distance  a 
grinding  crash ;  and  there  were  others  who 
were  quite  sure  that  they  had  noticed  what 
might  be  called  a  flash  of  darkness,  as  if 
something  had,  with  almost  unappreciable 
quickness,  passed  between  them  and  the 
sun. 

When  the  officers  of  the  garrison  mount 
ed  the  hill  before  them  and  surveyed  the 
place  where  their  fort  had  been,  there  was 
not  one  of  them  who  had  sufficient  com 
mand  of  himself  to  write  a  report  of  what 
had  happened.  They  gazed  at  the  bare, 
staring  flatness  of  the  shorn  bluff,  and  they 
looked  at  each  other.  This  was  not  war. 
It  was  something  supernatural,  awful! 
They  were  not  frightened ;  they  were  op 
pressed  and  appalled.  But  the  military 
discipline  of  their  minds  soon  exerted  its 
force,  and  a  brief  account  of  the  terrific 
event  was  transmitted  to  the  authorities, 
and  Sergeant  Kilsey  was  sentenced  to  a 
month  in  the  guard-house. 

No  one  approached  the  vicinity  of  the 
bluff  where  the  fort  had  stood,  for  danger 
might  not  be  over;  but  every  possible 
point  of  observation  within  a  safe  distance 
was  soon  crowded  with  anxious  and  terri 
fied  observers.  A  feeling  of  awe  was  no- 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       67 

ticeable  everywhere.  If  people  could  have 
had  a  tangible  idea  of  what  had  occurred, 
it  would  have  been  different.  If  the  sea 
had  raged,  if  a  vast  body  of  water  had 
been  thrown  into  the  air,  if  a  dense  cloud 
had  been  suddenly  ejected  from  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  they  might  have  formed  some 
opinion  about  it.  But  the  instantaneous 
disappearance  of  a  great  fortification  with 
a  little  more  appreciable  accompaniment 
than  the  sudden  tap,  as  of  a  little  hammer, 
upon  thousands  of  window-panes,  was 
something  which  their  intellects  could  not 
grasp.  It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the 
ordinary  mind  could  appreciate  the  differ 
ence  between  the  action  of  an  instanta 
neous  motor  when  imbedded  in  rocks  and 
earth,  and  its  effect,  when  opposed  by 
nothing  but  stone  walls,  upon  or  near  the 
surface  of  the  earth. 

Early  the  next  morning,  the  little  fleet 
of  the  Syndicate  prepared  to  carry  out  its 
further  orders.  The  waters  of  the  lower 
bay  were  now  entirely  deserted,  craft  of 
every  description  having  taken  refuge  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  harbour  near  and 
above  the  city.  Therefore,  as  soon  as  it 
was  light  enough  to  make  observations, 
Repeller  No.  1  did  not  hesitate  to  discharge 


68        THE  GREAT  WAR    SYNDICATE. 

a  motor-bomb  into  the  harbour,  a  mile  or 
more  above  where  the  first  one  had  fallen. 
This  was  done  in  order  to  explode  any  tor 
pedoes  which  might  have  been  put  into 
position  since  the  discharge  of  the  first 
bomb. 

There  were  very  few  people  in  the  city 
and  suburbs  who  were  at  that  hour  out  of 
doors  where  they  could  see  the  great  cloud 
of  water  arise  toward  the  sky,  and  behold 
it  descend  like  a  mighty  cataract  upon  the 
harbour  and  adjacent  shores ;  but  the 
quick,  sharp  shock  which  ran  under  the 
town  made  people  spring  from  their  beds ; 
and  although  nothing  was  then  to  be  seen, 
nearly  everybody  felt  sure  that  the  Syndi 
cate's  forces  had  begun  their  day's  work 
by  exploding  another  mine. 

A  lighthouse,  the  occupants  of  which 
had  been  ordered  to  leave  when  the  fort 
was  evacuated,  as  they  might  be  in  danger 
in  case  of  a  bombardment,  was  so  shaken 
by  the  explosion  of  this  motor-bomb  that  it 
fell  in  ruins  on  the  rocks  upon  which  it 
had  stood. 

The  two  crabs  now  took  the  steel  net 
from  its  moorings  and  carried  it  up  the 
harbour.  This  was  rather  difficult  on  ac 
count  of  the  islands,  rocks,  and  sand-bars ; 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       69 

but  the  leading  crab  had  on  board  a  pilot 
acquainted  with  those  waters.  With  the  net 
hanging  between  them,  the  two  submerged 
vessels,  one  carefully  following  the  other, 
reached  a  point  about  two  miles  below  the 
city,  where  the  net  was  anchored  across 
the  harbour.  It  did  not  reach  from  shore 
to  shore,  but  in  the  course  of  the  morning 
two  other  nets,  designed  for  shallower  wa 
ters,  were  brought  from  the  repellers  and 
anchored  at  each  end  of  the  main  net,  thus 
forming  a  line  of  complete  protection 
against  submarine  torpedoes  which  might 
be  sent  down  from  the  upper  harbour. 

Repeller  No.  1  now  steamed  into  the 
harbour,  accompanied  by  Crab  A,  and  an 
chored  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  seaward 
of  the  net.  The  other  repeller,  with  her 
attendant  crab,  cruised  about  the  mouth  of 
the  harbour,  watching  a  smaller  entrance  to 
the  port  as  well  as  the  larger  one,  and  thus 
maintaining  an  effective  blockade.  This 
was  not  a  difficult  duty,  for  since  the 
news  of  the  extraordinary  performances  of 
the  crabs  had  been  spread  abroad,  no  mer 
chant  vessel,  large  or  small,  cared  to  ap 
proach  that  port;  and  strict  orders  had 
been  issued  by  the  British  Admiralty  that 
no  vessel  of  the  navy  should,  until  further 


70        THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

instructed,  engage  in  combat  with  the 
peculiar  craft  of  the  Syndicate.  Until  a 
plan  of  action  had  been  determined  upon, 
it  was  very  desirable  that  English  cruisers 
should  not  be  exposed  to  useless  injury 
and  danger. 

This  being  the  state  of  affairs,  a  message 
was  sent  from  the  office  of  the  Syndicate 
across  the  border  to  the  Dominion  Govern 
ment,  which  stated  that  the  seaport  city 
which  had  been  attacked  by  the  forces  of 
the  Syndicate  now  lay  under  the  guns  of 
its  vessels,  and  in  case  of  any  overt  act 
of  war  by  Great  Britain  or  Canada  alone, 
such  as  the  entrance  of  an  armed  force 
from  British  territory  into  the  United 
States,  or  a  capture  of  or  attack  upon  an 
American  vessel,  naval  or  commercial,  by 
a  British  man-of-war,  or  an  attack  upon  an 
American  port  by  British  vessels,  the  city 
would  be  bombarded  and  destroyed. 

This  message,  which  was,  of  course,  in 
stantly  transmitted  to  London,  placed  the 
British  Government  in  the  apparent  posi 
tion  of  being  held  by  the  throat  by  the 
American  War  Syndicate.  But  if  the 
British  Government,  or  the  people  of  Eng 
land  or  Canada,  recognized  this  position  at 
all,  it  was  merely  as  a  temporary  condi- 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       71 

tion.     In  a  short  time  the  most  powerful 
men-of-war  of  the  Royal  Navy,  as  well  as  a 
fleet  of  transports  carrying  troops,  would 
reach  the  coasts  of   North  America,  and 
then  the  condition  of  affairs  would  rapidly 
be   changed.      It  was  absurd   to   suppose 
that  a  few  medium-sized  vessels,  however 
heavily  armoured,  or  a  few   new-fangled 
submarine  machines,  however  destructive 
they  might  be,  could  withstand  an  armada 
of  the  largest  and  finest  armoured  vessels 
in  the  world.     A  ship  or  two  might  be  dis 
abled,    although   this   was   unlikely,   now 
that  the  new  method  of  attack  was  under 
stood  ;  but  it  would  soon  be  the  ports  of 
the  United  States,  on  both  the  Pacific  and 
Atlantic  coasts,  which  would  lie  under  the 
guns  of  an  enemy. 

But  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  their 
navy  that  the  British  Government  and  the 
people  of  England  and  Canada  placed  their 
greatest  trust,  but  in  the  incapacity  of 
their  petty  foe  to  support  its  ridiculous 
assumptions.  The  claim  that  the  city  lay 
under  the  guns  of  the  American  Syndicate 
was  considered  ridiculous,  for  few  people 
believed  that  these  vessels  had  any  guns. 
Certainly,  there  had  been  no  evidence  that 
any  shots  had  been  fired  from  them.  In 


VI        THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

the  opinion  of  reasonable  people  the  de 
struction  of  the  forts  and  the  explosions  in 
the  harbour  had  been  caused  by  mines  — 
mines  of  a  new  and  terrifying  power  — 
which  were  the  work  of  traitors  and  con 
federates.  The  destruction  of  the  light 
house  had  strengthened  this  belief,  for  its 
full  was  similar  to  that  which  would  have 
been  occasioned  by  a  great  explosion  under 
its  foundation. 

But  however  terrifying  and  appalling 
had  been  the  results  of  the  explosion  of 
these  mines,  it  was  not  thought  probable 
that  there  were  any  more  of  them.  The 
explosions  had  taken  place  at  exposed 
points  distant  from  the  city,  and  the  most 
careful  investigation  failed  to  discover  any 
present  signs  of  mining  operations. 

This  theory  of  mines  worked  by  con 
federates  was  received  throughout  the 
civilized  world,  and  was  universally  con 
demned.  Even  in  the  United  States  the 
feeling  was  so  strong  against  this  apparent 
alliance  between  the  Syndicate  and  British 
traitors,  that  there  was  reason  to  believe 
that  a  popular  pressure  would  be  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  Government  sufficient  to 
force  it  to  break  its  contract  with  the  Syn 
dicate,  and  to  carry  on  the  war  with  the 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       73 

National  army  and  navy.  The  crab  was 
considered  an  admirable  addition  to  the 
strength  of  the  navy,  but  a  mine  under  a 
fort,  laid  and  fired  by  perfidious  confeder 
ates,  was  considered  unworthy  an  enlight 
ened  people. 

The  members  of  the  Syndicate  now  found 
themselves  in  an  embarrassing  and  danger 
ous  position  —  a  position  in  which  they 
were  placed  by  the  universal  incredulity  re 
garding  the  instantaneous  motor;  and  un 
less  they  could  make  the  world  believe 
that  they  really  used  such  a  motor-bomb, 
the  war  could  not  be  prosecuted  on  the 
plan  projected. 

It  was  easy  enough  to  convince  the 
enemy  of  the  terrible  destruction  the  Syn 
dicate  was  able  to  effect ;  but  to  make  that 
enemy  and  the  world  understand  that  this 
was  done  by  bombs,  which  could  be  used 
in  one  place  as  well  as  another,  was  diffi 
cult  indeed.  They  had  attempted  to  prove 
this  by  announcing  that  at  a  certain  time 
a  bomb  should  be  projected  into  a  certain 
fort.  Precisely  at  the  specified  time  the 
fort  had  been  destroyed,  but  nobody  be 
lieved  that  a  bomb  had  been  fired. 

Every  opinion,  official  or  popular,  con 
cerning  what  it  had  done  and  what  might 


74        THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

be  expected  of  it,  was  promptly  forwarded 
to  the  Syndicate  by  its  agents,  and  it  was 
thus  enabled  to  see  very  plainly  indeed 
that  the  effect  it  had  desired  to  produce 
had  not  been  produced.  Unless  the  enemy 
could  be  made  to  understand  that  any  fort 
or  ships  within  ten  miles  of  one  of  the  Syn 
dicate's  cannon  could  be  instantaneously 
dissipated  in  the  shape  of  fine  dust,  this  war 
could  not  be  carried  on  upon  the  principles 
adopted,  and  therefore  might  as  well  pass 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  Syndicate. 

Day  by  day  and  night  by  night  the  state 
of  affairs  was  anxiously  considered  at  the 
office  of  the  Syndicate  in  New  York.  A 
new  and  important  undertaking  was  de 
termined  upon,  and  on  the  success  of  this 
the  hopes  of  the  Syndicate  now  depended. 

During  the  rapid  and  vigorous  prepara 
tions  which  the  Syndicate  were  now  mak 
ing  for  their  new  venture,  several  events 
of  interest  occurred. 

Two  of  the  largest  Atlantic  mail  steam 
ers,  carrying  infantry  and  artillery  troops, 
and  conveyed  by  two  swift  and  powerful 
men-of-war,  arrived  off  the  coast  of  Can 
ada,  considerably  to  the  north  of  the 
blockaded  city.  The  departure  and  prob 
able  time  of  arrival  of  these  vessels 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       75 

had  been  telegraphed  to  the  Syndicate, 
through  one  of  the  continental  cables,  and 
a  repeller  with  two  crabs  had  been  for 
some  clays  waiting  for  them.  The  English 
vessels  had  taken  a  high  northern  course, 
hoping  they  might  enter  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence  without  subjecting  themselves 
to  injury  from  the  enemy's  crabs,  it  not 
being  considered  probable  that  there  were 
enough  of  these  vessels  to  patrol  the  entire 
coast.  But  although  the  crabs  were  few 
in  number,  the  Syndicate  was  able  to  place 
them  where  they  would  be  of  most  use ; 
arid  when  the  English  vessels  arrived  off 
the  northern  entrance  to  the  gulf,  they 
found  their  enemies  there. 

However  strong  might  be  the  incredu 
lity  of  the  enemy  regarding  the  powers  of 
a  repeller  to  bombard  a  city,  the  Syndicate 
felt  sure  there  would  be  no  present  in 
vasion  of  the  United  States  from  Canada ; 
but  it  wished  to  convince  the  British 
Government  that  troops  and  munitions  of 
war  could  not  be  safely  transported  across 
the  Atlantic.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Syndicate  very  much  objected  to  under 
taking  the  imprisonment  and  sustenance 
of  a  large  body  of  soldiers.  Orders  were 
therefore  given  to  the  officer  in  charge  of 


76        THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

the  repeller  not  to  molest  the  two  trans 
ports,  but  to  remove  the  rudders  and  ex 
tract  the  screws  of  the  two  war-vessels, 
leaving  them  to  be  towed  into  port  by  the 
troop-ships. 

This  duty  was  performed  by  the  crabs, 
while  the  British  vessels,  both  rams,  were 
preparing  to  make  a  united  and  vigorous 
onset  on  the  repeller,  and  the  two  men-of- 
war  were  left  hopelessly  tossing  on  the 
waves.  One  of  the  transports,  a  very  fast 
steamer,  had  already  entered  the  straits, 
and  could  not  be  signalled  ;  but  the  other 
one  returned  and  took  both  the  war-ships 
in  tow,  proceeding  very  slowly  until,  after 
entering  the  gulf,  she  was  relieved  by  tug 
boats. 

Another  event  of  a  somewhat  different 
character  was  the  occasion  of  much  excited 
feeling  and  comment,  particularly  in  the 
United  States.  The  descent  and  attack 
by  British  vessels  on  an  Atlantic  port  was 
a  matter  of  popular  expectation.  The 
Syndicate  had  repellers  and  crabs  at  the 
most  important  points ;  but,  in  the  minds 
of  naval  officers  and  a  large  portion  of  the 
people,  little  dependence  for  defence  was 
to  be  placed  upon  these.  As  to  the  ability 
of  the  War  Syndicate  to  prevent  invasion 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.        i  < 

or  attack  by  means  of  its  threats  to  bom 
bard  the  blockaded  Canadian  port,  very 
few  believed  in  it.  Even  if  the  Syndicate 
could  do  any  more  damage  in  that  quarter, 
which  was  improbable,  what  was  to  pre 
vent  the  British  navy  from  playing  the 
same  game,  and  entering  an  American  sea 
port,  threaten  to  bombard  the  place  if  the 
Syndicate  did  not  immediately  run  all 
their  queer  vessels  high  and  dry  on  some 
convenient  beach  ? 

A  feeling  of  indignation  against  the 
Syndicate  had  existed  in  the  navy  from 
the  time  that  the  war  contract  had  been 
made,  and  this  feeling  increased  daily. 
That  the  officers  and  men  of  the  United 
States  navy  should  be  penned  up  in  har 
bours,  ports,  and  sounds,  while  British 
ships  and  the  hulking  mine-springers  and 
rudder-pinchers  of  the  Syndicate  were  al 
lowed  to  roam  the  ocean  at  will,  was  a 
very  hard  thing  for  brave  sailors  to  bear. 
Sometimes  the  resentment  against  this 
state  of  affairs  rose  almost  to  revolt. 

The  great  naval  preparations  of  England 
were  not  yet  complete,  but  single  British 
men-of-war  were  now  frequently  seen  off 
the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  United  States. 
No  American  vessels  had  been  captured 


78        THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

by  these  since  the  message  of  the  Syndi 
cate  to  the  Dominion  of  Canada  and  the 
British  Government.  But  one  good  reason 
for  this  was  the  fact  that  it  was  very  diffi 
cult  now  to  find  upon  the  Atlantic  ocean 
a  vessel  sailing  under  the  American  flag. 
As  far  as  possible  these  had  taken  refuge 
in  their  own  ports  or  in  those  of  neutral 
countries. 

At  the  mouth  of  Delaware  Bay,  behind 
the  great  Breakwater,  was  now  collected  a 
number  of  coastwise  sailing-vessels  and 
steamers  of  various  classes  and  sizes ;  and 
for  the  protection  of  these  maritime  refu 
gees,  two  vessels  of  the  United  States 
navy  were  stationed  at  this  point.  These 
were  the  "  Lenox"  and  "  Stockbridge," 
two  of  the  finest  cruisers  in  the  service,  and 
commanded  by  two  of  the  most  restless 
and  bravest  officers  of  the  American  navy. 

The  appearance,  early  on  a  summer 
morning,  of  a  large  tBritish  cruiser  off  the 
mouth  of  the  harbour,  filled  those  two 
commanders  with  uncontrollable  belliger 
ency.  That  in  time  of  war  a  vessel  of  the 
enemy  should  be  allowed,  undisturbed,  to 
sail  up  and  down  before  an  American  har 
bour,  while  an  American  vessel  filled  with 
brave  American  sailors  lay  inside  like  a 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       79 

cowed  dog,  was  a  thought  which  goaded 
the  soul  of  each  of  these  commanders. 
There  was  a  certain  rivalry  between  the 
two  ships ;  and,  considering  the  insult 
offered  by  the  flaunting  red  cross  in  the 
offing,  and  the  humiliating  restrictions  im 
posed  by  the  Naval  Department,  each  com 
mander  thought  only  of  his  own  ship,  and 
not  at  all  of  the  other. 

It  was  almost  at  the  same  time  that  the 
commanders  of  the  two  ships  separately 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  proper 
way  to  protect  the  fleet  behind  the  Break 
water  was  for  his  vessel  to  boldly  steam  out 
to  sea  and  attack  the  British  cruiser.  If 
this  vessel  carried  a  long-range  gun,  what 
was  to  hinder  her  from  suddenly  running 
in  closer  and  sending  a  few  shells  into  the 
midst  of  the  defenceless  merchantmen?  In 
fact,  to  go  out  and  fight  her  was  the  only 
way  to  protect  the  lives  and  property  in 
the  harbour. 

It  was  true  that  one  of  those  beastly  re- 
pellers  was  sneaking  about  off  the  cape, 
accompanied,  probably,  by  an  underwater 
tongs-boat.  But  as  neither  of  these  had 
done  anything,  or  seemed  likely  to  do  any 
thing,  the  British  cruiser  should  be  at 
tacked  without  loss  of  time. 


80        THE  GREAT  \VAE   SYNDICATE. 

When  the  commander  of  the  "  Lenox  " 
came  to  this  decision,  his  ship  was  well 
abreast  of  Cape  Henlopen,  and  he  there 
fore  proceeded  directly  out  to  sea.  There 
was  a  little  fear  in  his  mind  that  the 
English  cruiser,  which  was  now  bearing 
to  the  south-east,  might  sail  off  and  get 
away  from  him.  The  "  Stockbridge  "  was 
detained  by  the  arrival  of  a  despatch  boat 
from  the  shore  with  a  message  from  the 
Naval  Department.  But  as  this  message 
related  only  to  the  measurements  of  a  cer 
tain  deck  gun,  her  commander  intended,  as 
soon  as  an  answer  could  be  sent  off,  to  sail 
out  and  give  battle  to  the  British  vessel. 

Every  soul  on  board  the  "  Lenox  "  was 
now  filled  with  fiery  ardour.  The  ship 
was  already  in  good  fighting  trim,  but 
every  possible  preparation  was  made  for 
a  contest  which  should  show  their  country 
and  the  world  what  American  sailors  were 
made  of. 

The  "  Lenox  "  had  not  proceeded  more 
than  a  mile  out  to  sea,  when  she  perceived 
Repeller  No.  6  coming  toward  her  from 
seaward,  and  in  a  direction  which  in 
dicated  that  it  intended  to  run  across  her 
course.  The  "  Lenox,"  however,  went 
straight  on,  and  in  a  short  time  the  two 


.  THE   GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       81 

vessels  were  quite  near  each  other.  Upon 
the  deck  of  the  repeller  now  appeared  the 
director  in  charge,  who,  with  a  speaking- 
trumpet,  hailed  the  "  Lenox  "  and  re 
quested  her  to  lay  to,  as  he  had  something 
to  communicate.  The  commander  of  the 
"Lenox,"  through  his  trumpet,  answered 
that  he  wanted  no  communications,  and 
advised  the  other  vessel  to  keep  out  of 
his  way. 

The  "  Lenox"  now  put  on  a  greater 
head  of  steam,  and  as  she  was  in  any  case 
a  much  faster  vessel  than  the  repeller,  she 
rapidly  increased  the  distance  between 
herself  and  the  Syndicate's  vessel,  so  that 
in  a  few  moments  hailing  was  impossible. 
Quick  signals  now  shot  up  in  jets  of  black 
smoke  from  the  repeller,  and  in  a  very 
short  time  afterward  the  speed  of  the 
"  Lenox  "  slackened  so  much  that  the  re 
peller  was  able  to  come  up  with  her. 

When  the  two  vessels  were  abreast  of 
each  other,  and  at  a  safe  hailing  distance 
apart,  another  signal  went  up  from  the 
repeller,  and  then  both  vessels  almost 
ceased  to  move  through  the  water,  although 
the  engines  of  the  "  Lenox  "  were  working 
at  high  speed,  with  her  propeller-blades 
stirring  up  a  whirlpool  at  her  stern. 


82       THE  GEE  AT  WAR  SYNDICATE. 

For  a  minute  or  two  the  officers  of  the 
44  Lenox  "  could  not  comprehend  what  had 
happened.  It  was  first  supposed  that  by 
mistake  the  engines  had  been  slackened, 
but  almost  at  the  same  moment  that  it 
was  found  that  this  was  not  the  case,  the 
discovery  was  made  that  the  crab  accom 
panying  the  repeller  had  laid  hold  of  the 
stern-post  of  the  "  Lenox,"  and  with  all 
the  strength  of  her  powerful  engines  was 
holding  her  back. 

Now  burst  forth  in  the  "  Lenox  "  a 
storm  of  frenzied  rage,  such  as  was  never 
seen  perhaps  upon  any  vessel  since  vessels 
were  first  built.  From  the  commander  to 
the  stokers  every  heart  was  filled  with  fury 
at  the  insult  which  was  put  upon  them. 
The  commander  roared  through  his  trum 
pet  that  if  that  infernal  sea-beetle  were 
not  immediately  loosed  from  his  ship  he 
would  first  sink  her  and  then  the  repeller. 

To  these  remarks  the  director  of  the 
Syndicate's  vessels  paid  no  attention,  but 
proceeded  to  state  as  briefly  and  forcibly 
as  possible  that  the  "Lenox"  had  been 
detained  in  order  that  he  might  have  an 
opportunity  of  speaking  with  her  com 
mander,  and  of  informing  him  that  his 
action  in  coming  out  of  the  harbour  for 


TEE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       83 

the  purpose  of  attacking  a  British  vessel 
was  in  direct  violation  of  the  contract 
between  the  United  States  and  the  Syn 
dicate  having  charge  of  the  war,  and  that 
such  action  could  not  be  allowed. 

The  commander  of  the  "Lenox"  paid 
no  more  attention  to  these  words  than  the 
Syndicate's  director  had  given  to  those  he 
had  spoken,  but  immediately  commenced 
a  violent  attack  upon  the  crab.  It  was 
impossible  to  bring  any  of  the  large  guns 
to  bear  upon  her,  for  she  was  almost  under 
the  stern  of  the  "  Lenox ;  "  but  every  means 
of  offence  which  infuriated  ingenuity 
could  suggest  was  used  against  it.  Machine 
guns  were  trained  to  fire  almost  perpen 
dicularly,  and  shot  after  shot  was  poured 
upon  that  portion  of  its  glistening  back 
which  appeared  above  the  water. 

But  as  these  projectiles  seemed  to  have 
no  effect  upon  the  solid  back  of  Crab  H, 
two  great  anvils  were  hoisted  at  the  end 
of  the  spanker-boom,  and  dropped,  one 
after  the  other,  upon  it.  The  shocks  were 
tremendous,  but  the  internal  construction 
of  the  crabs  provided,  by  means  of  upright 
beams,  against  injury  from  attacks  of  this 
kind,  and  the  great  masses  of  iron  slid  off 
into  the  sea  without  doing  any  damage. 


84        THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

Finding  it  impossible  to  make  any  im 
pression  upon  the  mailed  monster  at  liis 
stern,  the  commander  of  the  "  Lenox " 
hailed  the  director  of  the  repeller,  and 
swore  to  him  through  his  trumpet  that  if 
he  did  not  immediately  order  the  "  Lenox  " 
to  be  set  free,  her  heaviest  guns  should  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  his  floating  counting- 
house,  and  that  it  should  be  sunk,  if  it 
took  all  day  to  do  it. 

It  would  have  been  a  grim  satisfaction 
to  the  commander  of  the  "  Lenox "  to 
sink  Repeller  No.  6,  for  he  knew  the  ves 
sel  when  she  had  belonged  to  the  United 
States  navy.  Before  she  had  been  bought 
by  the  Syndicate,  and  fitted  out  with 
spring  armour,  he  had  made  two  long 
cruises  in  her,  and  he  bitterly  hated  her, 
from  her  keel  up. 

The  director  of  the  repeller  agreed  to 
release  the  "  Lenox  "  the  instant  her  com 
mander  would  consent  to  return  to  port. 
No  answer  was  made  to  this  proposition, 
but  a  dynamite  gun  on  the  "  Lenox  "  was 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  Syndicate's  ves 
sel.  Desiring  to  avoid  any  complications 
which  might  ensue  from  actions  of  this 
sort,  the  repeller  steamed  ahead,  while  the 
director  signalled  Crab  II  to  move  the  stern 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       85 

of  the  "  Lenox  "  to  the  windward,  which, 
being  quickly  done,  the  gun  of  the  latter 
bore  upon  the  distant  coast. 

It  was  now  very  plain  to  the  Syndicate 
director  that  his  words  could  have  no 
effect  upon  the  commander  of  the  "Len 
ox,"  and  he  therefore  signalled  Crab  H  to 
tow  the  United  States  vessel  into  port. 
When  the  commander  of  the  "  Lenox " 
saw  that  his  vessel  was  beginning  to  move 
backward,  he  gave  instant  orders  to  put 
on  all  steam.  But  this  was  found  to  be 
useless,  for  when  the  dynamite  gun  was 
about  to  be  fired,  the  engines  had  been 
ordered  stopped,  and  the  moment  that  the 
propeller-blades  ceased  moving,  the  nip 
pers  of  the  crab  had  been  released  from 
their  hold  upon  the  stern-post,  and  the 
propeller-blades  of  the  "Lenox"  were 
gently  but  firmly  seized  in  a  grasp  which 
included  the  rudder.  It  was  therefore  im 
possible  •  for  the  engines  of  the  vessel  to 
revolve  the  propeller,  and,  unresistingly, 
the  "  Lenox "  was  towed,  stern  foremost, 
to  the  Breakwater. 

The  news  of  this  incident  created  the 
wildest  indignation  in  the  United  States 
navy,  and  throughout  the  country  the  con 
demnation  of  what  was  considered  the 


8b       THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

insulting  action  of  the  Syndicate  was  gen 
eral.  In  foreign  countries  the  affair  was 
the  subject  of  a  good  deal  of  comment, 
but  it  was  also  the  occasion  of  much 
serious  consideration,  for  it  proved  that 
one  of  the  Syndicate's  submerged  vessels 
could,  without  firing  a  gun,  and  without 
fear  of  injury  to  itself,  capture  a  man-of- 
war  and  tow  it  whither  it  pleased. 

The  authorities  at  Washington  took  in 
stant  action  on  the  affair,  and  as  it  was 
quite  evident  that  the  contract  between  the 
United  States  and  the  Syndicate  had  been 
violated  by  the  "  Lenox,"  the  commander 
of  that  vessel  was  reprimanded  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  enjoined  that 
there  should  be  no  repetitions  of  his  of 
fence.  But  as  the  commander  of  the 
"  Lenox  "  knew  that  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  was  as  angry  as  he  was  at  what  had 
happened,  he  did  not  feel  his  reprimand  to 
be  in  any  way  a  disgrace. 

It  maybe  stated  that  the  "  Stockbridge," 
which  had  steamed  for  the  open  sea  as 
soon  as  the  business  which  had  detained 
her  was  completed,  did  not  go  outside  the 
Cape.  When  her  officers  perceived  with 
their  glasses  that  the  "  Lenox"  was  re 
turning  to  port  stern  foremost,  they  opined 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       87 

what  had  happened,  and  desiring  that 
their  ship  should  do  all  her  sailing  in  the 
natural  way,  the  "  Stockbridge  "  was  put 
about  and  steamed,  bow  foremost,  to  her 
anchorage  behind  the  Breakwater,  the 
commander  thanking  his  stars  that  for 
once  the  "  Lenox  "  had  got  ahead  of  him. 

The  members  of  the  Syndicate  were  very 
anxious  to  remove  the  unfavorable  impres 
sion  regarding  what  was  called  in  many 
quarters  their  attack  upon  a  United  States 
vessel,  and  a  circular  to  the  public  was 
issued,  in  which  they  expressed  their  deep 
regret  at  being  obliged  to  interfere  with  so 
many  brave  officers  and  men  in  a  moment 
of  patriotic  enthusiasm,  and  explaining 
how  absolutely  necessary  it  was  that  the 
"  Lenox  "  should  be  removed  from  a  posi 
tion  where  a  conflict  with  English  line-of- 
battle  ships  would  be  probable.  There 
were  many  thinking  persons  who  saw  the 
weight  of  the  Syndicate's  statements,  but 
the  effect  of  the  circular  upon-  the  popular 
mind  was  not  great. 

The  Syndicate  was  now  hard  at  work 
making  preparations  for  the  grand  stroke 
which  had  been  determined  upon.  In  the 
whole  country  there  was  scarcely  a  man 
whose  ability  could  be  made  available  in 


88        THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

their  work,  who  was  not  engaged  in  their 
service ;  and  everywhere,  in  foundries, 
workshops,  and  ship-yards,  the  construc 
tion  of  their  engines  of  Avar  was  being 
carried  on  by  day  and  by  night.  No  con 
tracts  were  made  for  the  delivery  of  work 
at  certain  times ;  everything  was  done 
under  the  direct  supervision  of  the  Syndi 
cate  and  its  subordinates,  and  the  work 
went  on  with  a  definiteness  and  rapidity 
hitherto  unknown  in  naval  construction. 

In  the  midst  of  the  Syndicate's  labours 
there  arrived  off  the  coast  of  Canada  the 
first  result  of  Great  Britain's  preparations 
for  her  war  with  the  American  Syndicate, 
in  the  shape  of  the  u  Adamant,"  the  largest 
and  finest  ironclad  which  had  ever  crossed 
the  Atlantic,  and  which  had  been  sent  to 
raise  the  blockade  of  the  Canadian  port 
by  the  Syndicate's  vessels. 

This  great  ship  had  been  especially  fitted 
out  to  engage  in  combat  with  repellers  and 
crabs.  As  far  as  was  possible  the  peculiar 
construction  of  the  Syndicate's  vessels  had 
been  carefully  studied,  and  English  special 
ists  in  the  line  of  naval  construction  and 
ordnance  had  given  most  earnest  consider 
ation  to  methods  of  attack  and  defence 
most  likely  to  succeed  with  these  novel 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       89 

ships  of  war.  The  "Adamant"  was  the 
only  vessel  which  it  had  been  possible  to 
send  out  in  so  short  a  time,  and  her  cruise 
was  somewhat  of  an  experiment.  If  she 
should  be  successful  in  raising  the  block 
ade  of  the  Canadian  port,  the  British 
Admiralty  would  have  but  little  difficulty 
in  dealing  with  the  American  Syndicate. 

The  most  important  object  was  to  pro 
vide  a  defence  against  the  screw-extracting 
and  rudder-breaking  crabs;  and  to  this 
end  the  "  Adamant "  had  been  fitted  with 
what  was  termed  a  "stern-jacket."  This 
was  a  great  cage  of  heavy  steel  bars, 
which  was  attached  to  the  stern  of  the 
vessel  in  such  a  way  that  it  could  be  raised 
high  above  the  water,  so  as  to  offer  no  im 
pediment  while  under  way,  and  which,  in 
time  of  action,  could  be  let  down  so  as  to 
surround  and  protect  the  rudder  and  screw- 
propellers,  of  which  the  "Adamant"  had 
two. 

This  was  considered  an  adequate  defence 
against  the  nippers  of  a  Syndicate  crab; 
but  as  a  means  of  offence  against  these 
almost  submerged  vessels  a  novel  contriv 
ance  had  been  adopted.  From  a  great 
boom  projecting  over  the  stern,  a  large 
ship's  cannon  was  suspended  perpendicu- 


90        THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

larly,  muzzle  downward.  This  gun  could 
be  swung  around  to  the  deck,  hoisted  into 
a  horizontal  position,  loaded  with  a  heavy 
charge,  a  wooden  plug  keeping  the  load  in 
position  when  the  gun  hung  perpendicu 
larly. 

If  the  crab  should  come  under  the  stern, 
this  cannon  could  be  fired  directly  down 
ward  upon  her  back,  and  it  was  not  be 
lieved  that  any  vessel  of  the  kind  could 
stand  many  such  tremendous  shocks.  It 
was  not  known  exactly  how  ventilation 
was  supplied  to  the  submarine  vessels  of 
the  Syndicate,  nor  how  the  occupants  were 
enabled  to  make  the  necessary  observa 
tions  during  action.  When  under  way  the 
crabs  sailed  somewhat  elevated  above  the 
water,  but  when  engaged  with  an  enemy 
only  a  small  portion  of  their  covering 
armour  could  be  seen. 

It  was  surmised  that  under  and  between 
some  of  the  scales  of  this  armour  there  was 
some  arrangement  of  thick  glasses,  through 
which  the  necessary  observation  could  be 
made ;  and  it  was  believed  that,  even  if  the 
heavy  perpendicular  shots  did  not  crush  in 
the  roof  of  a  crab,  these  glasses  would  be 
shattered  by  concussion.  Although  this 
might  appear  a  matter  of  slight  importance, 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       91 

it  was  thought  among  naval  officers  it 
would  necessitate  the  withdrawal  of  a  crab 
from  action. 

In  consequence  of  the  idea  that  the 
crabs  were  vulnerable  between  their 
overlapping  plates,  some  of  the  "  Ada 
mant's"  boats  were  fitted  out  with  Gatling 
and  machine  guns,  by  which  a  shower  of 
balls  might  be  sent  under  the  scales, 
through  the  glasses,  and  into  the  body  of 
the  crab.  In  addition  to  their  guns,  these 
boats  would  be  supplied  with  other  means 
of  attack  upon  the  crab. 

Of  course  it  would  be  impossible  to  de 
stroy  these  submerged  enemies  by  means 
of  dynamite  or  torpedoes;  for  with  two 
vessels  in  close  proximity,  the  explosion  of 
a  torpedo  would  be  as  dangerous  to  the 
hull  of  one  as  to  the  other.  The  British 
Admiralty  would  not  allow  even  the 
"Adamant"  to  explode  torpedoes  or  dyna 
mite  under  her  own  stern. 

With  regard  to  a  repeller,  or  spring- ar 
moured  vessel, the  "Adamant"  would  rely 
upon  her  exceptionally  powerful  armament, 
and  upon  her  great  weight  and  speed.  She 
was  fitted  with  twin  screws  and  engines  of 
the  highest  power,  and  it  was  believed  that 
she  would  be  able  to  overhaul,  ram,  and 


92        THE  GREAT  WAll   SYNDICATE. 

crushj  the  largest  vessel  armoured  or  un- 
armoured  which  the  Syndicate  would  be 
able  to  bring  against  her.  Some  of  her 
guns  were  of  immense  calibre,  firing  shot 
weighing  nearly  two  thousand  pounds,  and 
requiring  half  a  ton  of  powder  for  each 
charge.  Besides  these  she  carried  an  un 
usually  large  number  of  large  cannon  and 
two  dynamite  guns.  She  was  so  heavily 
plated  and  armoured  as  to  be  proof  against 
any  known  artillery  in  the  world. 

She  was  a  floating  fortress,  with  men 
enough  to  make  up  the  population  of  a 
town,  and  with  stores,  ammunition,  and 
coal  sufficient  to  last  for  a  long  term  of 
active  service.  Such  was  the  migkty 
English  battle-ship  which  had  come  for 
ward  to  raise  the  siege  of  the  Canadian 
port. 

The  officers  of  the  Syndicate  were  well 
aware  of  the  character  of  the  "Adamant," 
her  armament  and  her  defences,  and  had 
been  informed  by  cable  of  her  time  of  sail 
ing  and  probable  destination.  They  sent 
out  Repeller  No.  7,  with  Crabs  J  and  K,  to 
meet  her  off  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland. 

This  repeller  was  the  largest  and  strong 
est  vessel  that  the  Syndicate  had  ready  for 
service.  In  addition  to  the  spring  armour 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       98 

with  which  these  vessels  were  supplied, 
this  one  was  furnished  with  a  second  coat 
of  armour  outside  the  first,  the  elastic  steel 
ribs  of  which  ran  longitudinally  and  at 
right  angles  to  those  of  the  inner  set.  Both 
coats  were  furnished  with  a  great  number 
of  improved  air-buffers,  and  the  arrange 
ment  of  spring  armour  extended  five  or 
six  feet  beyond  the  massive  steel  plates 
with  which  the  vessel  was  originally  ar 
moured.  She  carried  one  motor-cannon 
of  large  size. 

One  of  'the  crabs  was  of  the  ordinary 
pattern,  but  Crab  K  was  furnished  with  a 
spring  armour  above  the  heavy  plates  of 
her  roof.  This  had  been  placed  upon  her 
after  the  news  had  been  received  by  the 
Syndicate  that  the  "Adamant"  would  carry 
a  perpendicular  cannon  over  her  stern,  but 
there  had  not  been  time  enough  to  fit  out 
another  crab  in  the  same  way. 

When  the  director  in  charge  of  Repeller 
No.  7  first  caught  sight  of  the  "Adamant," 
and  scanned  through  his  glass  the  vast 
proportions  of  the  mighty  ship  which  was 
rapidly  steaming  towards  the  coast,  he  felt 
that  a  responsibility  rested  upon  him 
heavier  than  any  which  had  yet  been 
borne  by  an  officer  of  the  Syndicate ;  but 


94        THE   GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

he  did  not  hesitate  in  the  duty  which  he 
had  been  sent  to  perform,  and  immediately 
ordered  the  two  crabs  to  advance  to  meet 
the  "Adamant,"  and  to  proceed  to  action 
according  to  the  instructions  which  they 
had  previously  received.  His  own  ship 
was  kept,  in  pursuance  of  orders,  several 
miles  distant  from  the  British  ship. 

As  soon  as  the  repeller  had  been  sighted 
from  the  "  Adamant,"  a  strict  lookout  had 
been  kept  for  the  approach  of  crabs ;  and 
when   the   small  exposed  portions  of  the 
backs  of  two  of  these  were  perceived  glis 
tening   in  the  sunlight,  the  speed  of  the 
great  ship  slackened.      The  ability  of  the 
Syndicate's   submerged   vessels    to    move 
suddenly  and  quickly  in  any  direction  had 
been  clearly  demonstrated,  and  although  a 
great  ironclad  with  a  ram  could  run  down 
and  sink  a  crab  without  feeling  the  con 
cussion,  it  was  known  that  it  would  be 
perfectly  easy  for  the  smaller  craft  to  keep 
out  of  the  way  of  its   bulky   antagonist. 
Therefore  the  "Adamant"  did  not  try  to 
ram  the  crabs,  nor  to  get  away  from  them, 
Her  commander  intended,  if  possible,  to 
run  down  one  or  both  of  them  ;  but  he  did 
not  propose  to  do  this  in  the  usual  way. 
As    the    crabs    approached,   the   stern- 


THE  GREAT  WAll    SYNDICATE.        95 

jacket  of  the  "Adamant"  was  let  down, 
and  the  engines  were  slowed.  This  stern- 
jacket,  when  protecting  the  rudder  and 
propellers,  looked  very  much  like  the  cow 
catcher  of  a  locomotive,  and  was  capable 
of  being  put  to  a  somewhat  similar  use. 
It  was  the  intention  of  the  captain  of  the 
"  Adamant,"  should  the  crabs  attempt  to 
attach  themselves  to  his  stern,  to  suddenly 
put  on  all  steam,  reverse  his  engines,  and 
back  upon  them,  the  stern-jacket  answering 
as  a  ram. 

The  commander  of  the  "  Adamant  had 
no  doubt  that  in  this  way  he  could  run 
into  a  crab,  roll  it  over  in  the  water,  and 
when  it  was  lying  bottom  upward,  like  a 
floating  cask,  he  could  move  his  ship  to  a 
distance,  and  make  a  target  of  it.  So 
desirous  was  this  brave  and  somewhat 
facetious  captain  to  try  his  new  plan  upon 
a  crab,  that  he  forebore  to  fire  upon  the 
two  vessels  of  that  class  which  were  ap 
proaching  him.  Some  of  his  guns  were  so 
mounted  that  their  muzzles  could  be  greatly 
depressed,  and  aimed  at  an  object  in  the 
water  not  far  from  the  ship.  But  these 
were  not  discharged,  and,  indeed,  the  crabs, 
which  were  new  ones  of  unusual  swiftness, 
were  alongside  the  "  Adamant "  in  an  in- 


96        THE   GEE  AT  WAR    SYNDICATE. 

credibly  short  time,  and  out  of  the  range  of 
these  guns. 

Crab  J  was  on  the  starboard  side  of  the 
"  Adamant,"  Crab  K  was  on  the  port  side, 
and,  simultaneously,  the  two  laid  hold  of 
her.  But  they  were  not  directly  astern  of 
the  great  vessel.  Each  had  its  nippers 
fastened  to  one  side  of  the  stern-jacket, 
near  the  hinge-like  bolts  which  held  it  to 
the  vessel,  and  on  which  it  was  raised  and 
lowered. 

In  a  moment  the  "  Adamant "  began  to 
steam  backward ;  but  the  only  effect  of  this 
motion,  which  soon  became  rapid,  was  to 
swing  the  crabs  around  against  her  sides, 
and  carry  them  with  her.  As  the  vessels 
were  thus  moving  the  great  pincers  of  the 
crabs  were  twisted  with  tremendous  force, 
the  stern-jacket  on  one  side  was  broken 
from  its  bolt,  and  on  the  other  the  bolt 
itself  was  drawn  out  of  the  side  of  the 
vessel.  The  nippers  then  opened,  and  the 
stern-jacket  fell  from  their  grasp  into 
the  sea,  snapping  in  its  fall  the  chain  by 
wliich  it  had  been  raised  and  lowered. 

This  disaster  occurred  so  quickly  that 
few  persons  on  board  the  "Adamant" 
knew  what  had  happened.  But  the  cap 
tain,  who  had  seen  everything,  gave  instant 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       97 

orders  to  go  ahead  at  full  speed.  The 
first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  get  at  a  dis 
tance  from  those  crabs,  keep  well  away 
from  them,  and  pound  them  to  pieces  with 
his  heavy  guns. 

But  the  iron  screw-propellers  had  scarce 
ly  begun  to  move  in  the  opposite  direction, 
before  the  two  crabs,  each  now  tying  at 
right  angles  with  the  length  of  the  ship, 
but  neither  of  them  directly  astern  of  her, 
made  a  dash  with  open  nippers,  and  Crab 
J  fastened  upon  one  propeller,  while  Crab 
K  laid  hold  of  the  other.  There  was  a  din 
and  crash  of  breaking  metal,  two  shocks 
which  were  felt  throughout  the  vessel,  and 
the  shattered  and  crushed  blades  of  the 
propellers  of  the  great  battle-ship  were 
powerless  to  move  her. 

The  captain  of  the  "  Adamant,"  pallid 
with  fury,  stood  upon  the  poop.  In  a 
moment  the  crabs  would  be  at  his  rudder ! 
The  great  gun,  double-shotted  and  ready 
to  fire,  was  hanging  from  its  boom  over  the 
stern.  Crab  K,  whose  roof  had  the  ad 
ditional  protection  of  spring  armour,  now 
moved  round  so  as  to  be  directly  astern  of 
the  "Adamant."  Before  she  could  reach 
the  rudder,  her  forward  part  came  under 
the  suspended  cannon,  and  two  massive 


98        THE  GREAT  WAE   SYNDICATE. 

steel  shot  were  driven  down  upon  her  with 
a  force  sufficient  to  send  them  through 
masses  of  solid  rock ;  but  from  the  surface 
of  elastic  steel  springs  and  air-buffers  they 
bounced  upward,  one  of  them  almost  fall 
ing  on  the  deck  of  the  "  Adamant." 

The  gunners  of  this  piece  had  been  well 
trained.  In  a  moment  the  boom  was  swung 
around,  the  cannon  reloaded,  and  when 
Crab  K  fixed  her  nippers  on  the  rudder  of 
the  "  Adamant,"  two  more  shot  came  down 
upon  her.  As  in  the  first  instance  she 
dipped  and  rolled,  but  the  ribs  of  her  un 
injured  armour  had  scarcely  sprung  back 
into  their  places,  before  her  nippers  turned, 
and  the  rudder  of  the  "  Adamant "  was 
broken  in  two,  and  the  upper  portion 
dragged  from  its  fastenings  ;  then  a  quick 
backward  jerk  snapped  its  chains,  and  it 
was  dropped  into  the  sea. 

A  signal  was  now  sent  from  Crab  J  to 
Repeller  No.  7,  to  the  effect  that  the  "Ada 
mant"  had  been  rendered  incapable  of 
steaming  or  sailing,  and  that  she  lay  sub 
ject  to  order. 

Subject  to  order  or  not,  the  "  Adamant  " 
did  not  lie  passive.  Every  gun  on  board 
which  could  be  sufficiently  depressed,  was 
made  ready  to  fire  upon  the  crabs  should 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.       99 

they  attempt  to  get  away.  Four  large  boats, 
furnished  with  machine  guns,  grapnels,  and 
with  various  appliances  which  might  be 
brought  into  use  on  a  steel-plated  roof,  were 
lowered  from  their  davits,  and  immediately 
began  firing  upon  the  exposed  portions  of 
the  crabs.  Their  machine  guns  were  loaded 
^vith  small  shells,  and  if  these  penetrated 
under  the  horizontal  plates  of  a  crab,  and 
through  the  heavy  glass  which  was  sup 
posed  to  be  in  these  interstices,  the  crew 
of  the  submerged  craft  would  be  soon  de 
stroyed. 

The  quick  eye  of  the  captain  of  the 
"  Adamant "  had  observed  through  his  glass, 
while  the  crabs  were  still  at  a  considerable 
distance,  their  protruding  air-pipes,  and  he 
had  instructed  the  officers  in  charge  of  the 
boats  to  make  an  especial  attack  upon  these. 
If  the  air-pipes  of  a  crab  could  be  rendered 
useless,  the  crew  must  inevitably  be  smoth 
ered. 

But  the  brave  captain  did  not  know  that 
the  condensed-air  chambers  of  the  crabs 
would  supply  their  inmates  for  an  hour  or 
more  without  recourse  to  the  outer  air,  and 
that  the  air-pipes,  furnished  with  valves 
at  the  top,  were  always  withdrawn  under 
water  during  action  with  an  enemy.  Nor 


100     THE  GEEAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

did  he  know  that  the  glass  blocks  under 
the  armour-plates  of  the  crabs,  which  were 
placed  in  rubber  frames  to  protect  them 
from  concussion  above,  were  also  guarded 
by  steel  netting  from  injury  by  small  balls. 

Valiantly  the  boats  beset  the  crabs, 
keeping  up  a  constant  fusillade,  and  en 
deavouring  to  throw  grapnels  over  them. 
If  one  of  these  should  catch  under  an  over 
lapping  armour-plate  it  could  be  connected 
with  the  steam  windlass  of  the  "  Adamant," 
and  a  plate  might  be  ripped  off  or  a  crab 
overturned. 

But  the  crabs  proved  to  be  much  more 
lively  fish  than  their  enemies  had  supposed. 
Turning,  as  if  on  a  pivot,  and  darting  from 
side  to  side,  they  seemed  to  be  playing  with 
the  boats,  and  not  trying  to  get  away  from 
them.  The  spring  armour  of  Crab  K  inter 
fered  somewhat  with  its  movements,  and 
also  put  it  in  danger  from  attacks  by  grap 
nels,  and  it  therefore  left  most  of  the  work 
to  its  consort. 

Crab  J,  after  darting  swiftly  in  and  out 
among  her  antagonists  for  some  time,  sud 
denly  made  a  turn,  and  dashing  at  one  of 
the  boats,  ran  under  it,  and  raising  it  on  its 
glistening  back,  rolled  it,  bottom  upward, 
into  the  sea.  In  a  moment  the  crew  of  the 


THE  GREAT  WAR   3Y~NZlCATE.     101 

boat  were  swimming  for  their  lives.  They 
were  quickly  picked  up  by  two  of  the  other 
boats,  which  then  deemed  it  prudent  to  re 
turn  to  the  ship. 

But  the  second  officer  of  the  "  Adamant," 
who  commanded  the  fourth  boat,  did  not 
give  up  the  fight.  Having  noted  the  spring 
armour  of  Crab  K,  he  believed  that  if  he 
could  get  a  grapnel  between  its  steel  ribs 
he  yet  might  capture  the  sea-monster.  For 
some  minutes  Crab  K  contented  itself  with 
eluding  him  ;  but,  tired  of  this,  it  turned, 
and  raising  its  huge  nippers  almost  out  of 
the  water,  it  seized  the  bow  of  the  boat, 
and  gave  it  a  gentle  crunch,  after  which  it 
released  its  hold  and  retired.  The  boat, 
leaking  rapidly  through  two  ragged  holes, 
was  rowed  back  to  the  ship,  which  it 
reached  half  full  of  water. 

The  great  battle-ship,  totally  bereft  of 
the  power  of  moving  herself,  was  now 
rolling  in  the  trough  of  the  sea,  and  a  sig 
nal  came  from  the  repeller  for  Crab  K  to 
make  fast  to  her  and  put  her  head  to  the 
wind.  This  was  quickly  done,  the  crab 
attaching  itself  to  the  stern-post  of  the 
"  Adamant  "  by  a  pair  of  towing  nippers. 
These  were  projected  from  the  stern  of  the 
crab,  and  were  so  constructed  that  the 


102 


WAR  SYNDICATE. 


larger  vessel  did  not  communicate  all  its 
motion  to  the  smaller  one,  and  could  not 
run  down  upon  it. 

As  soon  as  the  "  Adamant  "  was  brought 
up  with  her  head  to  the  wind  she  opened 
fire  upon  the  repeller.  The  latter  vessel 
could  easily  have  sailed  out  of  the  range 
of  a  motionless  enemy,  but  her  orders  for 
bade  this.  Her  director  had  been  in 
structed  by  the  Syndicate  to  expose  his 
vessel  to  the  fire  of  the  "  Adamant's  " 
heavy  guns.  Accordingly  the  repeller 
steamed  nearer,  and  turned  her  broadside 
toward  the  British  ship. 

Scarcely  had  this  been  done  when  the  two 
great  bow  guns  of  the  "  Adamant  "  shook 
the  air  with  tremendous  roars,  each  hurl 
ing  over  the  sea  nearly  a  ton  of  steel.  One 
of  these  great  shot  passed  over  the  re 
peller,  but  the  other  struck  her  armoured 
side  fairly  amidship.  There  was  a  crash 
and  scream  of  creaking  steel,  and  Repeller 
No.  7  rolled  over  to  windward  as  if  she 
had  been  struck  by  a  heavy  sea.  In  a 
moment  she  righted  and  shot  ahead,  and, 
turning,  presented  her  port  side  to  the 
enemy.  Instant  examination  of  the  armour 
on  her  other  side  showed  that  the  two 
banks  of  springs  were  uninjured,  and  that 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     103 

not  an  air-buffer  had  exploded  or  failed  to 
spring  back  to  its  normal  length. 

Firing  from  the  "  Adamant "  now  came 
thick  and  fast,  the  crab,  in  obedience  to 
signals,  turning  her  about  so  as  to  admit 
the  firing  of  some  heavy  guns  mounted 
amidships.  Three  enormous  solid  shot 
struck  the  repeller  at  different  points  on 
her  starboard  armour  without  inflicting 
damage,  while  the  explosion  of  several 
shells  which  hit  her  had  no  more  effect 
upon  her  elastic  armour  than  the  impact  of 
the  solid  shot. 

It  was  the  desire  of  the  Syndicate  not 
only  to  demonstrate  to  its  own  satisfaction 
the  efficiency  of  its  spring  armour,  but  to 
convince  Great  Britain  that  her  heaviest 
guns  on  her  mightiest  battle-ships  could 
have  no  effect  upon  its  armoured  vessels. 
To  prove  the  absolute  superiority  of  their 
means,  of  offence  and  defence  was  the 
supreme  object  of  the  Syndicate.  For 
this  its  members  studied  and  worked  by 
day  and  by  night ;  for  this  they  poured 
out  their  millions ;  for  this  they  waged 
war.  To  prove  what  they  claimed  would 
be  victory. 

When  Repeller  No.  7  had  sustained  the 
heavy  fire  of  the  "  Adamant "  for  about 


104     THE  GREAT  WAR  SYNDICATE. 

half  an  hour,  it  was  considered  that  the 
strength  of  her  armour  had  been  sufficiently 
demonstrated ;  and,  with  a  much  lighter 
heart  than  when  he  had  turned  her  broad 
side  to  the  "  Adamant,"  her  director  gave 
orders  that  she  should  steam  out  of  the 
range   of   the   guns   of   the    British   ship. 
During  the  cannonade   Crab  J  had  quietly 
slipped   away   from    the   vicinity    of    the 
"  Adamant,"  and  now  joined  the  repeller. 
The  great  ironclad  battle-ship,  with  her 
lofty  sides  plated  with  nearly  two  feet  o-f 
solid  steel,  with  her  six  great  guns,  each 
weighing  more  than  a  hundred  tons,  with 
her   armament    of    other    guns,    machine 
cannon,   and   almost   every  appliance    of 
naval  warfare,  with  a   small  army  of  offi 
cers  and  men  on  board,  was  left  in  charge 
of   Crab  K,   of  which  only  a  few  square 
yards   of    armoured  roof    could   be    seen 
above  the  water.     This  little  vessel  now 
proceeded  to    tow    southward    her    vast 
prize,  uninjured,  except  that  her  rudder 
and  propeller-blades  were  broken  and  use 
less. 

Although  the  engines  of  the  crab  were 
of  enormous  power,  the  progress  made  was 
slow,  for  the  "  Adamant  "  was  being  towed 
stern  foremost.  It  would  have  been  easier 


TEE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     105 

to  tow  the  great  vessel  had  the  crab  been 
attached  to  her  bow,  but  a  ram  which  ex 
tended  many  feet  under  water  rendered 
it  dangerous  for  a  submerged  vessel  to 
attach  itself  in  its  vicinity. 

During  the  night  the  repeller  kept  com 
pany,  although  at  a  considerable  distance, 
with  the  captured  vessel;  and  early  the 
next  morning  her  director  prepared  to 


SHE  WAS  BEING  TOWED  STERN  FOREMOST. 

send  to  the  "  Adamant  "  a  boat  with  a  flag- 
of-truce,  and  a  letter  demanding  the  sur 
render  and  subsequent  evacuation  of  the 
British  ship.  It  was  supposed  that  now, 
when  the  officers  of  the  "Adamant"  had  had 
time  to  appreciate  the  fact  that  they  had 
no  control  over  the  movements  of  their 
vessel ;  that  their  armament  was  powerless 
against  their  enemies ;  that  the  "  Adamant " 
could  be  towed  wherever  the  Syndicate 


106     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

chose  to  order,  or  left  helpless  in  mid- 
ocean,  —  they  would  be  obliged  to  admit 
that  there  was  nothing  for  them  to  do  but 
to  surrender. 

But  events  proved  that  no  such  ideas 
had  entered  the  minds  of  the  "Adamant's" 
officers,  and  their  action  totally  prevented 
sending  a  flag-of-truce  boat.  As  soon  as 
it  was  light  enough  to  see  the  repeller  the 
"  Adamant  "  began  firing  great  guns  at 
her.  She  was  too  far  away  for  the  shot 
to  strike  her,  but  to  launch  and  send  a 
boat  of  any  kind  into  a  storm  of  shot  and 
shell  was  of  course  impossible. 

The  cannon  suspended  over  the  stern  of 
the  "Adamant"  was  also  again  brought 
into  play,  and  shot  after  shot  was  driven 
down  upon  the  towing  crab.  Every  ball 
rebounded  from  the  spring  armour,  but  the 
officer  in  charge  of  the  crab  became  con 
vinced  that  after  a  time  this  constant  pound 
ing,  almost  in  the  same  place,  would  injure 
his  vessel,  and  he  signalled  the  repeller  to 
that  effect. 

The  director  of  Repeller  No.  7  had  been 
considering  the  situation.  There  was  only 
one  gun  on  the  "  Adamant "  which  could 
be  brought  to  bear  upon  Crab  K,  and  it 
would  be  the  part  of  wisdom  to  interfere 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     107 

with  the  persistent  use  of  this  gun.  Ac 
cordingly  the  bow  of  the  repeller  was 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  "  Adamant,"  and 
her  motor  gun  was  aimed  at  the  boom  from 
which  the  cannon  was  suspended. 

The  projectile  with  which  the  cannon 
was  loaded  was  not  an  instantaneous 
motor-bomb.  It  was  simply  a  heavy  solid 
shot,  driven  by  an  instantaneous  motor 
attachment,  and  was  thus  impelled  by  the 
same  power  and  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
motor-bombs.  The  instantaneous  motor- 
power  had  not  yet  been  used  at  so  great  a 
distance  as  that  between  the  repeller  and 
the  "  Adamant,"  and  the  occasion  was  one 
of  intense  interest  to  the  small  body  of 
scientific  men  having  charge  of  the  aiming 
and  firing. 

The  calculations  of  the  distance,  of  the 
necessary  elevation  and  direction,  and  of 
the  degree  of  motor-power  required,  were 
made  with  careful  exactness,  and  when  the 
proper  instant  arrived  the  button  was 
touched,  and  the  shot  with  which  the  can 
non  was  charged  was  instantaneously  re 
moved  to  a  point  in  the  ocean  about  a  mile 
beyond  the  "  Adamant,"  accompanied  by  a 
large  portion  of  the  heavy  boom  at  which 
the  gun  had  been  aimed. 


108     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

The  cannon  which  had  been  suspended 
from  the  end  of  this  boom  fell  into  the  sea, 
and  would  have  crashed  down  upon  the 
roof  of  Crab  K,  had  not  that  vessel,  in 
obedience  to  a  signal  from  the  repeller, 
loosened  its  hold  upon  the  " Adamant" 
and  retired  a  short  distance  astern.  Mate 
rial  injury  might  not  have  resulted  from 
the  fall  of  this  great  mass  of  metal  upon 
the  crab,  but  it  was  considered  prudent 
not  to  take  useless  risks. 

The  officers  of  the  "Adamant"  were 
greatly  surprised  and  chagrined  by  the 
fall  of  their  gun,  with  which  they  had  ex 
pected  ultimately  to  pound  in  the  roof  of 
the  crab.  No  damage  had  been  done  to 
the  vessel  except  the  removal  of  a  portion 
of  the  boom,  with  some  of  the  chains  and 
blocks  attached,  and  no  one  on  board  the 
British  ship  imagined  for  a  moment  that 
this  injury  had  been  occasioned  by  the  dis 
tant  repeller.  It  was  supposed  that  the  con 
stant  firing  of  the  cannon  had  cracked  the 
boom,  and  that  it  had  suddenly  snapped. 

Even  if  there  had  been  on  board  the 
"  Adamant "  the  means  for  rigging  up 
another  arrangement  of  the  kind  for  per 
pendicular  artillery  practice,  it  would  have 
required  a  long  time  to  get  it  into  work- 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     109 

ing  order,  and  the  director  of  Repeller 
No.  7  hoped  that  now  the  British  captain 
would  see  the  uselessness  of  continued  re 
sistance. 

But  the  British  captain  saw  nothing  of 
the  kind,  and  shot  after  shot  from  his  guns 
were  hurled  high  into  the  air,  in  hopes 
that  the  great  curves  described  would 
bring  some  of  them  down  on  the  deck  of 
the  repeller.  If  this  beastly  store-ship, 
which  could  stand  lire  but  never  returned 
it,  could  be  sunk,  the  "  Adamant's "  cap 
tain  would  be  happy.  With  the  exceptian 
of  the  loss  of  her  motive  power,  his  vessel 
was  intact,  and  if  the  stupid  crab  would 
only  continue  to  keep  the  "  Adamant's " 
head  to  the  sea  until  the  noise  of  her  can 
nonade  should  attract  some  other  British 
vessel  to  the  scene,  the  condition  of  affairs 
might  be  altered. 

All  that  day  the  great  guns  of  the 
"  Adamant "  continued  to  roar.  The  next 
morning,  however,  the  firing  was  not  re 
sumed,  and  the  officers  of  the  repeller 
were  greatly  surprised  to  see  approaching 
from  the  British  ship  a  boat  carrying  a 
white  flag.  This  was  a  very  welcome 
sight,  and  the  arrival  of  the  boat  was 
awaited  with  eager  interest. 


110     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

During  the  night  a  council  had  been 
held  on  board  the  "  Adamant."  Her 
cannonading  had  had  no  effect,  either  in 
bringing  assistance  or  in  injuring  the 
enemy;  she  was  being  towed  steadily 
southward  farther  and  farther  from  the 
probable  neighbourhood  of  a  British  man- 
of-war  ;  and  it  was  agreed  that  it  would 
be  the  part  of  wisdom  to  come  to  terms 
with  the  Syndicate's  vessel. 

Therefore  the  captain  of  the  "  Adamant " 
sent  a  letter  to  the  repeller,  in  which  he 
stated  to  the  persons  in  charge  of  that 
ship,  that  although  his  vessel  had  been 
injured  in  a  manner  totally  at  variance 
with  the  rules  of  naval  warfare,  he  would 
overlook  this  fact  and  would  agree  to 
cease  firing  upon  the  Syndicate's  vessels, 
provided  that  the  submerged  craft  which 
was  now  made  fast  to  his  vessel  should 
attach  itself  to  the  "  Adamant's  "  bow,  and 
by  means  of  a  suitable  cable  which  she 
would  furnish,  would  tow  her  into  British 
waters.  If  this  were  done  he  would  guar 
antee  that  the  towing  craft  should  have 
six  hours  in  which  to  get  away. 

When  this  letter  was  read  on  board  the 
repeller  it  created  considerable  merriment, 
and  an  answer  was  sent  back  that  no  con- 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     Ill 

ditlons  but  those  of  absolute  surrender 
could  be  received  from  the  British  ship. 

In  three  minutes  after  this  answer  had 
been  received  by  the  captain  of  the  "  Ada 
mant,"  two  shells  went  whirring  and 
shrieking  through  the  air  toward  Repeller 
No.  7,  and  after  that  the  cannonading 
from  the  bow,  the  stern,  the  starboard,  and 
the  port  guns  of  the  great  battle-ship  went 
on  whenever  there  was  a  visible  object  on 
the  ocean  which  looked  in  the  least  like 
an  American  coasting  vessel  or  man-of-war. 

For  a  week  Crab  K  towed  steadily  to 
the  south  this  blazing  and  thundering 
marine  citadel ;  arid  then  the  crab  signalled 
to  the  still  accompanying  repeller  that  it 
must  be  relieved.  It  had  not  been  fitted 
out  for  so  long  a  cruise,  and  supplies  were 
getting  low. 

The  Syndicate,  which  had  been  kept 
informed  of  all  the  details  of  this  affair, 
had  already  perceived  the  necessity  of 
relieving  Crab  K,  and  another  crab,  well 
provisioned  and  fitted  out,  was  already  on 
the  way  to  take  its  place.  This  was  Crab 
C,  possessing  powerful  engines,  but  in 
point  of  roof  armour  the  weakest  of  its 
class.  It  could  be  better  spared  than  any 
other  crab  to  tow  the  "  Adamant,"  and  as 


112      THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

the  British  ship  had  not,  and  probably 
could  not,  put  out  another  suspended 
cannon,  it  was  considered  quite  suitable 
for  the  service  required. 

But  when  Crab  C  came  within  half  a 
mile  of  the  "Adamant"  it  stopped.  It 
was  evident  that  on  board  the  British  ship 
a  steady  lookout  had  been  maintained  for 
the  approach  of  fresh  crabs,  for  several 
enormous  shell  and  shot  from  heavy  guns, 
which  had  been  trained  upward  at  a  high 
angle,  now  fell  into  the  sea  a  short  dis 
tance  from  the  crab. 

Crab  C  would  not  have  feared  these 
heavy  shot  had  they  been  fired  from  an  or 
dinary  elevation;  and  although  no  other 
vessel  in  the  Syndicate's  service  would 
have  hesitated  to  run  the  terrible  gauntlet, 
this  one,  by  reason  of  errors  in  construc 
tion,  being  less  able  than  any  other  crab 
to  resist  the  fall  from  a  great  height  of 
ponderous  shot  and  shell,  thought  it  pru 
dent  not  to  venture  into  this  rain  of  iron  ; 
and,  moving  rapidly  beyond  the  line  of 
danger,  it  attempted  to  approach  the  "  Ad 
amant  "  from  another  quarter.  If  it  could 
get  within  the  circle  of  falling  shot  it 
would  be  safe.  But  this  it  could  not  do. 
On  all  sides  of  the  "  Adamant "  guns  had 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     113 

been  trained  to  drop  shot  and  shells  at  a 
distance  of  half  a  mile  from  the  ship. 

Around  and  around  the  mighty  iron 
clad  steamed  Crab  C ;  but  wherever  she 
went  her  presence  was  betrayed  to  the  fine 
glasses  on  board  the  "  Adamant "  by  the 
bit  of  her  shining  back  and  the  ripple 
about  it ;  and  ever  between  her  and  the 
ship  came  down  that  hail  of  iron  in  masses 
of  a  quarter  ton,  half  ton,  or  nearly  a 
whole  ton.  Crab  C  could  not  venture 
under  these,  and  all  day  she  accompanied 
the  " Adamant"  on  her  voyage  south, 
dashing  to  this  side  and  that,  and  looking 
for  the  chance  that  did  not  come,  for  all 
day  the  cannon  of  the  battle-ship  roared  at 
her  wherever  she  might  be. 

The  inmates  of  Crab  K  were  now  very 
restive  and  uneasy,  for  they  were  on  short 
rations,  both  of  food  and  water.  They 
would  have  been  glad  enough  to  cast 
loose  from  the  "  Adamant,"  and  leave  the 
spiteful  ship  to  roll  to  her  heart's  content, 
broadside  to  the  sea.  They  did  not  fear 
to  run  their  vessel,  with  its  thick  roof- 
plates  protected  by  spring  armour,  through 
the  heaviest  cannonade. 

But  signals  from  the  repeller  commanded 
them  to  stay  by  the  "  Adamant "  as  long 


114     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

as  they  could  hold  out,  and  they  were 
obliged  to  content  themselves  with  a  hope 
that  when  night  fell  the  other  crab  would 
be  able  to  get  in  under  the  stern  of  the 
"  Adamant,"  and  make  the  desired  ex 
change. 

But  to  the  great  discomfiture  of  the  Syn 
dicate's  forces,  darkness  had  scarcely  come 
on  before  four  enormous  electric  lights 
blazed  high  up  on  the  single  lofty  mast  of 
the  "  Adamant,"  lighting  up  the  ocean  for 
a  mile  on  every  side  of  the  ship.  It  was  of 
no  more  use  for  Crab  C  to  try  to  get  in 
now  than  in  broad  daylight ;  and  all  night 
the  great  guns  roared,  and  the  little  crab 
manoeuvred. 

The  next  morning  a  heavy  fog  fell  upon 
the  sea,  and  the  battle-ship  and  Crab  C 
were  completely  shut  out  of  sight  of  each 
other.  Now  the  cannon  of  the  "  Adamant " 
were  silent,  for  the  only  result  of  firing 
would  be  to  indicate  to  the  crab  the  loca 
tion  of  the  British  ship.  The  smoke-sig 
nals  of  the  towing  crab  could  not  be  seen 
through  the  fog  by  her  consorts,  and  she 
seemed  to  be  incapable  of  making  signals 
by  sound.  Therefore  the  commander  of  the 
"  Adamant "  thought  it  likely  that  until  the 
fog  rose  the  crab  could  not  find  his  ship. 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     115 

What  that  other  crab  intended  to  do 
could  be,  of  course,  on  board  the  "  Ada 
mant,"  only  a  surmise ;  but  it  was  believed 
that  she  would  bring  with  her  a  torpedo  to 
be  exploded  under  the  British  ship.  That 
one  crab  should  tow  her  away  from  possi 
ble  aid  until  another  should  bring  a  tor 
pedo  to  fasten  to  her  stern-post  seemed  a 
reasonable  explanation  of  the  action  of  the 
Syndicate's  vessels. 

The  officers  of  the  "Adamant"  little 
understood  the  resources  and  intentions 
of  their  opponents.  Every  vessel  of  the 
Syndicate  carried  a  magnetic  indicator, 
which  was  designed  to  prevent  collisions 
with  iron  vessels.  This  little  instrument 
was  placed  at  night  and  during  fogs  at  the 
bow  of  the  vessel,  and  a  delicate  arm  of 
steel,  which  ordinarily  pointed  upward  at 
a  considerable  angle,  fell  into  a  horizontal 
position  when  any  large  body  of  iron  ap 
proached  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  and, 
so  falling,  rang  a  small  bell.  Its  point 
then  turned  toward  the  mass  of  iron. 

Soon  after  the  fog  came  on,  one  of  these 
indicators,  properly  protected  from  the  at 
traction  of  the  metal  about  it,  was  put 
into  position  on  Crab  C.  Before  very  long 
it  indicated  the  proximity  of  the  "Ada- 


116     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

mant ;  "  and,  guided  by  its  steel  point,  the 
crab  moved  quietly  to  the  ironclad,  at 
tached  itself  to  its  stern-post,  and  allowed 
the  happy  crew  of  Crab  K  to  depart  coast- 
ward. 

When  the  fog  rose  the  glasses  of  the 
"Adamant"  showed  the  approach  of  no 
crab,  but  it  was  observed,  in  looking  over 
the  stern,  that  the  beggarly  devil-fish  which 
had  the  ship  in  tow  appeared  to  have  made 
some  change  in  its  back. 

In  the  afternoon  of  that  day  a  truce 
boat  was  sent  from  the  repeller  to  the 
"Adamant."  It  was  allowed  to  come 
alongside  ;  but  when  the  British  captain 
found  that  the  Syndicate  merely  renewed 
its  demand  for  his  surrender,  he  waxed 
fiercely  angry,  and  sent  the  boat  back  with 
the  word  that  no  further  message  need  be 
sent  to  him  unless  it  should  be  one  com 
plying  with  the  conditions  he  had  offered. 

The  Syndicate  now  gave  up  the  task 
of  inducing  the  captain  of  the  "  Adamant " 
to  surrender.  Crab  C  was  commanded  to 
continue  towing  the  great  ship  southward, 
and  to  keep  her  well  away  from  the  coast, 
in  order  to  avoid  danger  to  seaport  towns 
and  coasting  vessels,  while  the  repeller 
steamed  away. 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     117 

Week  after  week  the  "  Adamant "  moved 
southward,  roaring  away  with  her  great 
guns  whenever  an  American  sail  came 
within  possible  range,  and  surrounding 
herself  with  a  circle  of  bursting  bombs  to 
let  any  crab  know  what  it  might  expect  if 
it  attempted  to  come  near.  Blazing  and 
thundering,  stern  foremost,  but  stoutly,  she 
rode  the  waves,  ready  to  show  the  world 
that  she  was  an  impregnable  British  bat 
tle-ship,  from  which  no  enemy  could  snatch 
the  royal  colours  which  floated  high  above 
her. 

It  was  during  the  first  week  of  the  in 
voluntary  cruise  of  the  "Adamant"  that 
the  Syndicate  finished  its  preparations  for 
what  it  hoped  would  be  the  decisive 
movement  of  its  campaign.  To  do  this  a 
repeller  and  six  crabs,  all  with  extraordi 
nary  powers,  had  been  fitted  out  with  great 
care,  and  also  with  great  rapidity,  for  the 
British  Government  was  working  night 
and  day  to  get  its  fleet  of  ironclads  in 
readiness  for  a  descent  upon  the  American 
coast.  Many  of  the  British  vessels  were 
already  well  prepared  for  ordinary  naval 
warfare ;  but  to  resist  crabs  additional  de 
fences  were  necessary.  It  was  known  that 
the  "  Adamant "  had  been  captured,  and 


118     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

consequently  the  manufacture  of  stern- 
jackets  had  been  abandoned ;  but  it  was 
believed  that  protection  could  be  effectu 
ally  given  to  rudders  and  propeller-blades 
by  a  new  method  which  the  Admiralty  had 
adopted. 

The  repeller  which  was  to  take  part  in 
the  Syndicate's  proposed  movement  had 
been  a  vessel  of  the  United  States  navy 
which  for  a  long  time  had  been  out  of 
commission,  and  undergoing  a  course  of 
very  slow  and  desultory  repairs  in  a  dock 
yard.  She  had  always  been  considered 
the  most  unlucky  craft  in  the  service,  and 
nearly  every  accident  that  could  happen 
to  a  ship  had  happened  to  her.  Years  and 
years  before,  when  she  would  set  out  upon 
a  cruise,  her  officers  and  crew  would  re 
ceive  the  humorous  sympathy  of  their 
friends,  and  wagers  were  frequently  laid 
in  regard  to  the  different  kinds  of  mishaps 
which  might  befall  this  unlucky  vessel, 
which  was  then  known  as  the  "  Talla- 
poosa." 

The  Syndicate  did  not  particularly  desire 
this  vessel,  but  there  was  no  other  that 
could  readily  be  made  available  for  its  pur 
poses,  and  accordingly  the  "  Tallapoosa  " 
was  purchased  from  the  Government  and 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     119 

work  immediately  begun  upon  her.  Her 
engines  and  hull  were  put  into  good  condi 
tion,  and  outside  of  her  was  built  another 
hull,  composed  of  heavy  steel  armour- 
plates,  and  strongly  braced  by  great  trans 
verse  beams  running  through  the  ship. 

Still  outside  of  this  was  placed  an  im 
proved  system  of  spring  armour,  much 
stronger  and  more  effective  than  any 
which  had  yet  been  constructed.  This, 
with  the  armour-plate,  added  nearly  fifteen 
feet  to  the  width  of  the  vessel  above  water. 
All  her  superstructures  were  removed  from 
her  deck,  which  was  covered  by  a  curved 
steel  roof,  and  under  a  bomb-proof  canopy 
at  the  bow  were  placed  two  guns  capable  of 
carrying  the  largest-sized  motor-bombs. 
The  "  Tallapoosa,"  thus  transformed,  was 
called  Repeller  No.  11. 

The  immense  addition  to  her  weight 
would  of  course  interfere  very  much  with 
the  speed  of  the  new  repeller,  but  this  was 
considered  of  little  importance,  as  she 
would  depend  on  her  own  engines  only  in 
time  of  action.  She  was  now  believed  to 
possess  more  perfect  defences  than  any 
battle-ship  in  the  world. 

Early  on  a  misty  morning,  Repeller  No. 
11,  towed  by  four  of  the  swiftest  and  most 


120     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

powerful  crabs,  and  followed  by  two  others, 
left  a  Northern  port  of  the  United  States, 
bound  for  the  coast  of  Great  Britain.  Her 
course  was  a  very  northerly  one,  for  the 
reason  that  the  Syndicate  had  planned 
work  for  her  to  do  while  on  her  way  across 
the  Atlantic. 

The  Syndicate  had  now  determined, 
without  unnecessarily  losing  an  hour,  to 
plainly  demonstrate  the  power  of  the  in 
stantaneous  motor-bomb.  It  had  been  in 
tended  to  do  this  upon  the  "  Adamant,"  but 
as  it  had  been  found  impossible  to  induce 
the  captain  of  that  vessel  to  evacuate  his 
ship,  the  Syndicate  had  declined  to  exhibit 
the  efficiency  of  their  new  agent  of  destruc 
tion  upon  a  disabled  craft  crowded  with 
human  beings. 

This  course  had  been  highly  prejudicial 
to  the  claims  of  the  Syndicate,  for  as 
Repeller  No.  7  had  made  no  use  in  the 
contest  with  the  "  Adamant "  of  the  motor- 
bombs  with  which  she  was  said  to  be  sup 
plied,  it  was  generally  believed  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic  that  she  carried  no 
such  bombs,  and  the  conviction  that  the 
destruction  at  the  Canadian  port  had  been 
effected  by  means  of  mines  continued  as 
strong  as  it  had  ever  been.  To  correct 


THE  GREAT  WAll   SYNDICATE.     121 

these  false  ideas  was  now  the  duty  of 
Repeller  No.  11. 

For  some  time  Great  Britain  had  been 
steadily  forwarding  troops  and  munitions 
of  war  to  Canada,  without  interruption 
from  her  enemy.  Only  once  had  the  Syn 
dicate's  vessels  appeared  above  the  Banks 
of  Newfoundland,  and  as  the  number  of 
these  peculiar  craft  must  necessarily  be 
small,  it  was  not  supposed  that  their  line 
of  operations  would  be  extended  very  far 
north,  and  no  danger  from  them  was  appre 
hended,  provided  the  English  vessels  laid 
their  courses  well  to  the  north. 

Shortly  before  the  sailing  of  Repeller 
No.  11,  the  Syndicate  had  received  news 
that  one  of  the  largest  transatlantic  mail 
steamers,  loaded  with  troops  and  with 
heavy  cannon  for  Canadian  fortifications, 
and  accompanied  by  the  "  Craglevin,"  one 
of  the  largest  ironclads  in  the  Royal  Navy, 
had  started  across  the  Atlantic.  The 
first  business  of  the  repeller  and  her  attend 
ant  crabs  concerned  these  two  vessels. 

Owing  to  the  power  and  speed  of  the 
crabs  which  towed  her,  Repeller  No.  11 
made  excellent  time  ;  and  on  the  morning 
of  the  third  day  out  the  two  British  ves 
sels  were  sighted.  Somewhat  altering 


122     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

their  course  the  Syndicate's  vessels  were 
soon  within  a  few  miles  of  the  enemy. 

The  "  Craglevin  "  was  a  magnificent  war 
ship.  She  was  not  quite  so  large  as  the 
"  Adamant,"  and  she  was  unprovided  with 
a  stern-jacket  or  other  defence  of  the  kind. 
In  sending  her  out  the  Admiralty  had  de 
signed  her  to  defend  the  transport  against 
the  regular  vessels  of  the  United  States 
navy ;  for  although  the  nature  of  the  con 
tract  with  the  Syndicate  was  well  under 
stood  in  England,  it  was  not  supposed  that 
the  American  Government  would  long 
consent  to  allow  their  war  vessels  to  remain 
entirely  idle. 

When  the  captain  of  the  "Craglevin" 
perceived  the  approach  of  the  repeller  he 
was  much  surprised,  but  he  did  not  hesi 
tate  for  a  moment  as  to  his  course.  He 
signalled  to  the  transport,  then  about  a 
mile  to  the  north,  to  keep  on  her  way 
while  he  steered  to  meet  the  enemy.  It 
had  been  decided  in  British  naval  circles 
that  the  proper  thing  to  do  in  regard  to  a  re 
peller  was  to  ram  her  as  quickly  as  possible. 
These  vessels  were  necessarily  slow  and 
unwieldy,  and  if  a  heavy  ironclad  could 
keep  clear  of  crabs  long  enough  to  rush 
down  upon  one,  there  was  every  reason  to 


THE   GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     123 

believe  that  the  "ball-bouncer,"  as  the 
repellers  were  called  by  British  sailors, 
could  be  crushed  in  below  the  water-line 
and  sunk.  So,  full  of  courage  and  deter 
mination,  the  captain  of  the  "  Craglevin  " 
bore  down  upon  the  repeller. 

*It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  details 
of  the  ensuing  action.     Before  the  "  Crag- 
levin  "   was    within    half    a  mile    of  her 
enemy  she  was  seized  by  two  crabs,  all  of 
which   had  cast   loose   from  the  repeller, 
and  in  less  than  twenty  minutes  both  of 
her  screws  were  extracted  and  her  rudder 
shattered.     In  the  mean  time  two  of  the 
swiftest  crabs  had  pursued  the  transport, 
and,  coming  up  with  her,  one  of  them  had 
fastened  to  her  rudder,  without,  however, 
making  any  attempt  to  injure  it.     When 
the  captain  of  the  steamer  saw  that  one  of 
the  sea-devils  had  him  by  the  stern,  while 
another  was  near  by  ready  to  attack  him, 
he  prudently  stopped  his  engines  and  lay  to, 
the  crab  keeping  his  ship's  head  to  the  sea. 
The  captain  of  the  "  Craglevin  "  was  a 
very  different  man  from  the  captain  of  the 
44  Adamant."     He  was  quite  as  brave,  but 
he  was  wiser  and  more  prudent.     He  saw 
that  the  transport  had  been  captured  and 
forced  to  lay  to  ;  he  saw  that  the  repeller 


124     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

mounted  two  heavy  guns  at  her  bow,  and 
whatever  might  be  the  character  of  those 
guns,  there  could  be  no  reasonable  doubt 
that  they  were  sufficient  to  sink  an  ordi 
nary  mail  steamer.  His  own  vessel  was 
entirely  out  of  his  control,  and  even  if  he 
chose  to  try  his  guns  on  the  spring  armour 
of  the  repeller,  it  would  probably  result  in 
the  repeller  turning  her  fire  upon  the 
transport. 

With  a  disabled  ship,  and  the  lives  of  so 
many  men  in  his  charge,  the  captain  of  the 
"  Craglevin  "  saw  that  it  would  be  wrong 
for  him  to  attempt  to  fight,  and  he  did  not 
fire  a  gun.  With  as  much  calmness  as  the 
circumstances  would  permit,  he  awaited 
the  progress  of  events. 

In  a  very  short  time  a  message  came  to 
him  from  Repeller  No.  11,  which  stated 
that  in  two  hours  his  ship  would  be  de 
stroyed  by  instantaneous  motor-bombs. 
Every  opportunity,  however,  would  be 
given  for  the  transfer  to  the  mail  steamer 
of  all  the  officers  and  men  on  board  the 
"  Craglevin,"  together  with  such  of  their 
possessions  as  they  could  take  with  them 
in  that  time.  When  this  had  been  done 
the  transport  would  be  allowed  to  proceed 
on  her  way. 


TIIE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     125 

To  this  demand  nothing  but  acquiescence 
was  possible.  Whether  or  not  there  was 
such  a  thing  as  an  instantaneous  motor- 
bomb  the  "  Craglevin's  "  officers  did  not 
know ;  but  they  knew  that  if  left  to  her 
self  their  ship  would  soon  attend  to  her 
own  sinking,  for  there  was  a  terrible  rent 
in  her  stern,  owing  to  a  pitch  of  the  vessel 
while  one  of  the  propeller-shafts  was  being 
extracted. 

Preparations  for  leaving  the  ship  were, 
therefore,  immediately  begun.  The  crab 
was  ordered  to  release  the  mail  steamer, 
which,  in  obedience  to  signals  from  the 
"Cragleyin,"  steamed  as  near  that  vessel 
as  safety  would  permit.  Boats  were  low 
ered  from  both  ships,  and  the  work  of 
transfer  went  on  with  great  activity. 

There  was  no  lowering  of  flags  on  board 
the  "  Craglevin,"  for  the  Syndicate  attached 
no  importance  to  such  outward  signs  and 
formalities.  If  the  captain  of  the  British 
ship  chose  to  haul  down  his  colours  he 
could  do  so ;  but  if  he  preferred  to  leave 
them  still  bravely  floating  above  his  vessel 
he  was  equally  welcome  to  do  that. 

When  nearly  every  one  had  left  the 
"Craglevin,"  a  boat  was  sent  from  the 
repeller,  which  lay  near  by,  with  a  note 


126     THE  GEE  AT  WAE   SYNDICATE. 

requesting  the  captain  and  first  officer  of 
the  British  ship  to  come  on.  board  Repeller 
No.  11  and  witness  the  method  of  dis 
charging  the  instantaneous  motor-bomb, 
after  which  they  would  be  put  on  board 
the  transport.  This  invitation  struck  the 
captain  of  the  "  Craglevin  "  with  surprise, 
but  a  little  reflection  showed  him  that  it 
would  be  wise  to  accept  it.  In  the  first 
place,  it  was  in  the  nature  of  a  command, 
which,  in  the  presence  of  six  crabs  and  a 
repeller,  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  disobey ; 
and,  moreover,  he  was  moved  by  a  desire 
to  know  something  about  the  Syndicate's 
mysterious  engine  of  destruction,  if,  indeed, 
such  a  thing  really  existed. 

Accordingly,  when  all  the  others  had 
left  the  ship,  the  captain  of  the  "Crag- 
levin  "  and  his  first  officer  came  on  board 
the  repeller,  curiously  observing  the  spring 
armour  over  which  they  passed  by  means 
of  a  light  gang-board  with  hand-rail.  They 
were  received  by  the  director  at  one  of 
the  hatches  of  the  steel  deck,  which  were 
now  all  open,  and  conducted  by  him  to 
the  bomb-proof  compartment  in  the  bow. 
'There  was  no  reason  why  the  nature  of  the 
repeller's  defences  should  not  be  known  to 
the  world  nor  adopted  by  other  nations. 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     127 

They  were  intended  as  a  protection  against 
ordinary  shot  and  shell ;  they  would  avail 
nothing  against  the  instantaneous  motor- 
bomb. 

The  British  officers  were  shown  the 
motor-bomb  to  be  discharged,  which,  ex 
ternally,  was  very  much  like  an  ordinary 
shell,  except  that  it  was  nearly  as  long  as  the 
bore  of  the  cannon;  and  the  director  stated 
that  although,  of  course,  the  principle  of 
the  motor-bomb  was  the  Syndicate's  secret, 
it  was  highly  desirable  that  its  effects  and 
its  methods  of  operation  should  be  gener 
ally  known. 

The  repeller,  accompanied  by  the  mail 
steamer  and  all  the  crabs,  now  moved  to 
about  two  miles  to  the  leeward  of  the 
"  Craglevin,"  and  lay  to.  The  motor- 
bomb  was  then  placed  in  one  of  the  great 
guns,  while  the  scientific  corps  attended 
to  the  necessary  calculations  of  distance, 
etc. 

The  director  now  turned  to  the  British 
captain,  who  had  been  observing  every 
thing  with  the  greatest  interest,  and,  with 
a  smile,  asked  him  if  he  would  like  to 
commit  hari-kari  ? 

As  this  remark  was  somewhat  enigmati 
cal,  the  director  went  on  to  say  that  if  it 


128     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

would  be  any  gratification  to  the  captain 
to  destroy  his  vessel  with  his  own  hands, 
instead  of  allowing  this  to  be  done  by  an 
enemy,  he  was  at  liberty  to  do  so.  This 
offer  was  immediately  accepted,  for  if  his 
ship  was  really  to  be  destroyed,  the  captain 
felt  that  he  would  like  to  do  it  himself. 

When  the  calculations  had  been  made 
and.  the  indicator  set,  the  captain  was 
shown  the  button  he  must  press,  and  stood 
waiting  for  the  signal.  He  looked  over  the 
sea  at  the  "  Craglevin,"  which  had  settled 
a  little  at  the  stern,  and  was  rolling  heav 
ily  ;  but  she  was  still  a  magnificent  battle 
ship,  with  the  red  cross  of  England  floating 
over  her.  He  could  not  help  the  thought 
that  if  this  motor  mystery  should  amount 
to  nothing,  there  was  no  reason  why  the 
"Craglevin"  should  not  be  towed  into 
port,  and  be  made  again  the  grand  war 
ship  that  she  had  been. 

Now  the  director  gave  the  signal,  and 
the  captain,  with  his  eyes  fixed  upon  his 
ship,  touched  the  button.  A  quick  shock 
ran  through  the  repeller,  and  a  black-gray 
cloud,  half  a  mile  high,  occupied  the  place 
of  the  British  ship. 

The  cloud  rapidly  settled  down,  covering 
the  water  with  a  glittering  scum  which 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     129 

spread  far  and  wide,  and  which  had  been 
the  "Craglevin." 

The  British  captain  stood  for  a  moment 
motionless,  and  then  he  picked  up  a  ram 
mer  and  ran  it  into  the  muzzle  of  the  cannon 
which  had  been  discharged.  The  great 
gun  was  empty.  The  instantaneous  motor- 
bomb  was  not  there. 

Now  he  was  convinced  that  the  Syndi 
cate  had  not  mined  the  fortresses  which 
they  had  destroyed. 

In  twenty  minutes  the  two  British  offi 
cers  were  on  board  the  transport,  which 
then  steamed  rapidly  westward.  The  crabs 
again  took  the  repeller  in  tow,  and  the 
Syndicate's  fleet  continued  its  eastward 
course,  passing  through  the  wide  expanse 
of  glittering  scum  which  had  spread  itself 
upon  the  sea. 

They  were  not  two-thirds  of  their  way 
across  the  Atlantic  when  the  transport 
reached  St.  John's,  and  the  cable  told  the 
world  that  the  "  Craglevin  "  had  been  an 
nihilated. 

The  news  was  received  with  amazement, 
and  even  consternation.  It  came  from  an 
officer  in  the  Royal  Navy,  and  how  [could 
it  be  doubted  that  a  great  man-of-war  had 
been  destroyed  in  a  moment  by  one  shot 


130     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

from  the  Syndicate's  vessel !  And  yet,  even 
now,  there  were  persons  who  did  doubt, 
and  who  asserted  that  the  crabs  might 
have  placed  a  great  torpedo  under  the 
"  Craglevin,"  that  a  wire  attached  to  this 
torpedo  ran  out  from  the  repeller,  and  that 
the  British  captain  had  merely  fired  the 
torpedo.  But  hour  by  hour,  as  fuller  news 
came  across  the  ocean,  the  number  of  these 
doubters  became  smaller  and  smaller. 

In  the  midst  of  the  great  public  excite 
ment  which  now  existed  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic,  —  in  the  midst  of  all  the  con 
flicting  opinions,  fears,  and  hopes,  —  the 
dominant  sentiment  seemed  to  be,  in 
America  as  well  as  in  Europe,  one  of  curi 
osity.  Were  these  six  crabs  and  one  re 
peller  bound  to  the  British  Isles  ?  And  if 
so,  what  did  they  intend  to  do  when  they 
got  there  ? 

It  was  now  generally  admitted  that  one 
of  the  Syndicate's  crabs  could  disable  a 
man-of-war,  that  one  of  the  Syndicate's 
repellers  could  withstand  the  heaviest 
artillery  fire,  and  that  one  of  the '  Syndi 
cate's  motor-bombs  could  destroy  a  vessel 
or  a  fort.  But  these  things  had  been 
proved  in  isolated  combats,  where  the  new 
methods  of  attack  and  defence  had  had 


THE  GEEAT  WAE   SYNDICATE.     131 

almost  undisturbed  opportunity  for  exhib 
iting  their  efficiency.  But  what  could 
a  repeller  and  half  a  dozen  crabs  do 
against  the  combined  force  of  the  Royal 
Navy,  —  a  na^vy  which  had  in  the  last  few 
years  regained  its  supremacy  among  the 
nations,  and  which  had  made  Great  Britain 
once  more  the  first  maritime  power  in  the 
world  ? 

The  crabs  might  disable  some  men-of- 
war,  the  repeller  might  make  her  calcu 
lations  and  discharge  her  bomb  at  a  ship 
or  a  fort,  but  what  would  the  main  body 
of  the  navy  be  doing  meanwhile  ?  Over 
whelming,  crushing,  and  sinking  to  the 
bottom  crabs,  repeller,  motor  -guns,  and 
everything  that  belonged  to  them. 

In  England  there  was  a  feeling  of  strong 
resentment  that  such  a  little  fleet  should 
be  allowed  to  sail  with  such  intent  into 
British  waters.  This  resentment  extended 
itself,  not  only  to  the  impudent  Syndicate, 
but  toward  the  Government ;  and  the  oppo 
sition  party  gained  daily  in  strength.  The 
opposition  papers  had  been  loud  and  reck 
less  in  their  denunciations  of  the  slowness 
and  inadequacy  of  the  naval  preparations, 
and  loaded  the  Government  with  the  en 
tire  responsibility,  not  only  of  the  damage 


132     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

which  had  already  been  done  to  the  forts, 
the  ships,  and  the  prestige  of  Great  Brit 
ain,  but  al$6  for  the  threatened  danger  of 
a  sudden  descent  of  the  Syndicate's  fleet 
upon  some  unprotected  point  upon  the 
coast.  This  fleet  should  never  have  been 
allowed  to  approach  within  a  thousand 
miles  of  England.  It  should  have  been 
sunk  in  mid-ocean,  if  its  sinking  had  in 
volved  the  loss  of  a  dozen  men-of-war. 

In  America  a  very  strong  feeling  of  dis 
satisfaction  showed  itself.  From  the  first, 
the  Syndicate  contract  had  not  been  popu 
lar  ;  but  the  quick,  effective,  and  business 
like  action  of  that  body  of  men,  and  the 
marked  success  up  to  this  time  of  their 
inventions  and  their  operations,  had  caused 
a  great  reaction  in  their  favour.  They  had, 
so  far,  successfully  defended  the  Ameri 
can  coast,  and  when  they  had  increased 
the  number  of  their  vessels,  they  would 
have  been  relied  upon  to  continue  that  de 
fence.  Even  if  a  British  armada  had  set 
out  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  its  movements 
must  have  been  slow  and  cumbrous,  and 
the  swift  and  sudden  strokes  with  which 
the  Syndicate  waged  war  could  have  been 
given  by  night  and  by  day  over  thousands 
of  miles  of  ocean. 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     133 

Whether  or  not  these  strokes  would 
have  been  quick  enough  or  hard  enough 
to  turn  back  an  armada  might  be  a  ques 
tion  ;  but  there  could  be  no  question  of  the 
suicidal  policy  of  sending  seven  ships  and 
two  cannon  to  conquer  England.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  success  of  the  Syndicate  had  so 
puffed  up  its  members  with  pride  and  con 
fidence  in  their  powers  that  they  had 
come  to  believe  that  they  had  only  to  show 
themselves  to  conquer,  whatever  might  be 
the  conditions  of  the  contest. 

The  destruction  of  the  Syndicate's  fleet 
would  now  be  a  heavy  blow  to  the  United 
States.  It  would  produce  an  utter  want 
of  confidence  in  the  councils  and  judg 
ments  of  the  Syndicate,  which  could  not 
be  counteracted  by  the  strongest  faith  in 
the  efficiency  of  their  engines  of  war ;  and 
it  was  feared  it  might  become  necessary, 
even  at  this  critical  juncture,  to  annul  the 
contract  with  the  Syndicate,  and  to  de 
pend  upon  the  American  navy  for  the 
defence  of  the  American  coast. 

Even  among  the  men  on  board  the  Syn 
dicate's  fleet  there  were  signs  of  doubt  and 
apprehensions  of  evil.  It  had  all  been 
very  well  so  far,  but  fighting  one  ship  at 
a  time  was  a  very  different  thing  from 


134     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

steaming  into  the  midst  of  a  hundred  ships. 
On  board  the  repeller  there  was  now  an 
additional  reason  for  fears  and  misgivings. 
The  unlucky  character  of  the  vessel  when 
it  had  been  the  "  Tallapoosa  "  was  known, 
and  not  a  few  of  the  men  imagined  that 
it  must  now  be  time  for  some  new  disas 
ter  to  this  ill-starred  craft,  and  if  her  evil 
genius  had  desired  fresh  disaster  for  her, 
it  was  certainly  sending  her  into  a  good 
place  to  look  for  it. 

But  the  Syndicate  neither  doubted  nor 
hesitated  nor  paid  any  attention  to  the 
doubts  and  condemnations  which  they 
heard  from  every  quarter.  Four  days  after 
the  news  of  the  destruction  of  the  "  Crag- 
levin  "  had  been  telegraphed  from  Canada 
to  London,  the  Syndicate's  fleet  entered 
the  English  Channel.  Owing  to  the  power 
and  speed  of  the  crabs,  Repeller  No.  11  had 
made  a  passage  of  the  Atlantic  which  in 
her  old  naval  career  would  have  been  con 
sidered  miraculous. 

Craft  of  various  kinds  were  now  passed, 
but  none  of  them  carried  the  British  flag. 
In  the  expectation  of  the  arrival  of  the 
enemy,  British  merchantmen  and  fishing 
vessels  had  been  advised  to  keep  in  the 
background  until  the  British  navy  had  con- 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     135 

eluded  its  business  with  the  vessels  of  the 
American  Syndicate. 

As  has  been  said  before,  the  British 
Admiralty  had  adopted  a  new  method  of 
defence  for  the  rudders  and  screw-propel 
lers  of  naval  vessels  against  the  attacks  of 
submerged  craft.  The  work  of  construct 
ing  the  new  appliances  had  been  pushed 
forward  as  fast  as  possible,  but  so  far  only 
one  of  these  had  been  finished  and  attached 
to  a  man-of-war. 

The  "  Llangaron  "  was  a  recently  built 
ironclad  of  the  same  size  and  class  as  the 
"  Adamant ;  "  and  to  her  had  been  attached 
the  new  stern-defence.     This  was  an  im 
mense  steel  cylinder,  entirely  closed,  and 
rounded   at  the  ends.     It  was  about   ten 
feet  in  diameter,  and  strongly  braced  inside. 
It  was  suspended  by  chains  from  two  davits 
which  projected  over  the  stern  of  the  vessel. 
When  sailing  this  cylinder  was  hoisted  up 
to  the  davits,  but  when  the  ship  was  pre 
pared  for  action  it  was  lowered  until  it  lay, 
nearly  submerged,  abaft  of  the  rudder.     In 
this  position  its  ends  projected  about  fifteen 
feet  on  either  side  of  the  propeller-blades. 
It  was  believed  that  this  cylinder  would 
effectually   prevent   a   crab   from   getting 
near  enough  to  the  propeller  or  the  rudder 


136      THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

to  do  any  damage.     It  could  not  be  torn 
away  as  the  stern-jacket  had  been,  for  the 
rounded  and  smooth  sides  and  ends  of  the 
massive  cylinder  would  offer  no  hold  to 
the  forceps  of  the  crabs  ;  and,  approaching 
from  any  quarter,  it  would  be  impossible 
for  these  forceps  to  reach  rudder  or  screw. 
The  Syndicate's  little    fleet  arrived  in 
British  waters  late  in  the  clay,  and  early 
the  next  morning  it  appeared  about  twenty 
miles  to  the  south  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and 
headed  to  the  north-east,  as  if  it  were  mak 
ing  for  Portsmouth.     The  course  of  these 
vessels  greatly  surprised  the  English  Gov 
ernment  and  naval  authorities.     It  was  ex 
pected  that  an  attack  would  probably  be 
made  upon  some  comparatively  unprotected 
spot  on  the  British  seaboard,  and  therefore 
on  the   west  coast  of   Ireland  and  in  St. 
George's  Channel  preparations  of  the  most 
formidable   character   had    been  made   to 
defend  British  ports  against  Repeller  No. 
11  and  her  attendant  crabs.     Particularly 
was  this  the  case  in  Bristol  Channel,  where 
a  large  number  of  ironclads  were  stationed, 
and  which  was  to  have  been  the  destination 
of   the    "Llangaron"    if    the    Syndicate's 
vessels   had    delayed  their    coming    long 
enough  to  allow  her  to  get  around  there. 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     137 

That  this  little  fleet  should  have  sailed 
straight  for  England's  great  naval  strong 
hold  was  something  that  the  British  Admi 
ralty  could  not  understand.  The  fact  was 
not  appreciated  that  it  was  the  object  of  the 
Syndicate  to  measure  its  strength  with  the 
greatest  strength  of  the  enemy.  Anything 
less  than  this  would  not  avail  its  purpose. 

Notwithstanding  that  so  many  vessels 
had  been  sent  to  different  parts  of  the  coast, 
there  was  still  in  Portsmouth  harbour  a  large 
number  of  war  vessels  of  various  classes, 
all  in  commission  and  ready  for  action. 
The  greater  part  of  these  had  received 
orders  to  cruise  that  day  in  the  channel. 
Consequently,  it  was  still  early  in  the 
morning  when,  around  the  eastern  end  of 
the  Isle  of  Wight,  there  appeared  a  British 
fleet  composed  of  fifteen  of  the  finest  iron 
clads,  with  several  gun-boats  and  cruisers, 
and  a  number  of  torpedo-boats. 

It  was  a  noble  sight,  for  besides  the  war 
ships  there  was  another  fleet  hanging  upon 
the  outskirts  of  the  first,  and  composed  of 
craft,  large  and  small,  and  from  both  sides 
of  the  channel,  filled  with  those  who  were 
anxious  to  witness  from  afar  the  sea-fight 
which  was  to  take  place  under  such  novel 
conditions.  Many  of  these  observers  were 


138     THE  GREAT  WAR    SYNDICATE. 

reporters  and  special  correspondents  for 
great  newspapers.  On  some  of  the  vessels 
which  came  up  from  the  French  coast  were 
men  with  marine  glasses  of  extraordinary 
power,  whose  business  it  was  to  send  an 
early  and  accurate  report  of  the  affair  to 
the  office  of  the  War  Syndicate  in  New 
York. 

As  soon  as  the  British  ships  came  in 
sight,  the  four  crabs  cast  off  from  Repeller 
No.  11.  Then  with  the  other  two  they 
prepared  for  action,  moving  considerably 
in  advance  of  the  repeller,  which  now 
steamed  forward  very  slowly.  The  wind 
was  strong  from  the  north-west,  and  the 
sea  high,  the  shining  tops  of  the  crabs  fre 
quently  disappearing  under  the  waves. 

The  British  fleet  came  steadily  on, 
headed  by  the  great  "  Llangaron."  This 
vessel  was  very  much  in  advance  of  the 
others,  for  knowing  that  when  she  was 
really  in  action  and  the  great  cylinder 
which  formed  her  stern-guard  was  lowered 
into  the  water  her  speed  would  be  much 
retarded,  she  had  put  on  all  steam,  and 
being  the  swiftest  war-ship  of  her  class, 
she  had  distanced  all  her  consorts.  It  was 
highly  important  that  she  should  begin  the 
fight,  and  engage  the  attention  of  as  many 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     139 

crabs  as  possible,  while  certain  of  the  other 
ships  attacked  the  repeller  with  their  rams. 
Although  it  was  now  generally  believed 
that  motor-bombs  from  a  repeller  might 
destroy  a  man-of-war,  it  was  also  consid 
ered  probable  that  the  accurate  calcula 
tions  which  appeared  to  be  necessary  to 
precision  of  aim  could  not  be  made  when 
the  object  of  the  aim  was  in  rapid  motion. 

But  whether  or  not  one  or  more  motor- 
bombs  did  strike  the  mark,  or  whether  or 
not  one  or  more  vessels  were  blown  into 
fine  particles,  there  were  a  dozen  iron 
clads  in  that  fleet,  each  of  whose  command 
ers  and  officers  were  determined  to  run  into 
that  repeller  and  crush  her,  if  so  be  they 
held  together  long  enough  to  reach  her. 

The  commanders  of  the  torpedo-boats 
had  orders  to  direct  their  swift  messengers 
of  destruction  first  against  the  crabs,  for 
these  vessels  were  far  in  advance  of  the 
repeller,  and  coming  on  with  a  rapidity 
which  showed  that  they  were  determined 
upon  mischief.  If  a  torpedo,  shot  from  a 
torpedo-boat,  and  speeding  swiftly  by  its 
own  powers  beneath  the  waves,  should 
strike  the  submerged  hull  of  a  crab,  there 
would  be  one  crab  the  less  in  the  English 
Channel. 


140     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

As  has  been  said,  the  "  Llangaron " 
came  rushing  on,  distancing  everything, 
even  the  torpedo-boats.  If,  before  she  was 
obliged  to  lower  her  cylinder,  she  could 
get  near  enough  to  the  almost  stationary 
repeller  to  take  part  in  the  attack  on  her, 
she  would  then  be  content  to  slacken 
speed  and  let  the  crabs  nibble  awhile  at 
her  stern. 

Two  of  the  latest  constructed  and  larg 
est  crabs,  Q  and  R,  headed  at  full  speed 
to  meet  the  "  Llangaron,"  who,  as  she 
came  on,  opened  the  ball  by  sending  a 
"  rattler  "  in  the  shape  of  a  five-hundred- 
pound  shot  into  the  ribs  of  the  repeller, 
then  at  least  four  miles  distant,  and  imme 
diately  after  began  firing  her  dynamite 
guns,  which  were  of  limited  range,  at  the 
roofs  of  the  advancing  crabs. 

There  were  some  on  board  the  repeller 
who,  at  the  moment  the  great  shot  struck 
her,  with  a  ringing  and  clangour  of  steel 
springs,  such  as  never  was  heard  before, 
wished  that  in  her  former  state  of  exist 
ence  she  had  been  some  other  vessel  than 
the  "  Tallapoosa." 

But  every  spring  sprang  back  to  its 
place  as  the  great  mass  of  iron  glanced  off 
into  the  sea.  The  dynamite  bombs  flew 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     141 

over  the  tops  of  the  crabs,  whose  rapid 
motions  and  slightly  exposed  surfaces  gave 
little  chance  for  accurate  aim,  and  in  a 
short  time  they  were  too  close  to  the 
"  Llangaron "  for  this  class  of  gun  to  be 
used  upon  them. 

As  the  crabs  came  nearer,  the  "  Llan 
garon  "  lowered  the  great  steel  cylinder 
which  hung  across  her  stern,  until  it  lay 
almost  entirely  under  water,  and  abaft 
of  her  rudder  and  propeller-blades.  She 
now  moved  slowly  through  the  water,  and 
her  men  greeted  the  advancing  crabs  with 
yells  of  defiance,  and  a  shower  of  shot  from 
machine  guns. 

The  character  of  the  new  defence  which 
had  been  fitted  to  the  "  Llangaron  "  was 
known  to  the  Syndicate,  and  the  directors 
of  the  two  new  crabs  understood  the  heavy 
piece  of  work  which  lay  before  them.  But 
their  plans  of  action  had  been  well  con 
sidered,  and  they  made  straight  for  the 
stern  of  the  British  ship. 

It  was,  of  course,  impossible  to  endeav 
our  to  grasp  that  great  cylinder  with  its 
rounded  ends ;  their  forceps  would  slip 
from  any  portion  of  its  smooth  surface  011 
which  they  should  endeavour  to  lay  hold, 
and  no  such  attempt  was  made.  Keeping 


142     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

near  the  cylinder,  one  at  each  end  of  it,  the 
two  moved  slowly  after  the  "  Llangaron," 
apparently  discouraged. 

In  a  short  time,  however,  it  was  per 
ceived  by  those  on  board  the  ship  that  a 
change  had  taken  place  in  the  appearance 
of  the  crabs;  the  visible  portion  of  their 
backs  was  growing  larger  and  larger ;  they 
were  rising  in  the  water.  Their  mailed 
roofs  became  visible  from  end  to  end,  and 
the  crowd  of  observers  looking  down  from 
the  ship  were  amazed  to  see  what  large 
vessels  they  were. 

Higher  and  higher  the  crabs  arose,  their 
powerful  air-pumps  working  at  their  great 
est  capacity,  until  their  ponderous  pincers 
became  visible  above  the  water.  Then 
into  the  minds  of  the  officers  of  the  "  Llan 
garon  "  flashed  the  true  object  of  this  up 
rising,  which  to  the  crew  had  seemed  an 
intention  on  the  part  of  the  sea-devils  to 
clamber  on  board. 

If  the  cylinder  were  left  in  its  present 
position  the  crab  might  seize  the  chains  by 
which  it  was  suspended,  while  if  it  were 
raised  it  would  cease  to  be  a  defence. 
Notwithstanding  this  latter  contingency, 
the  order  was  quickly  given  to  raise  the 
cylinder;  but  before  the  hoisting  engine 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     143 

had  been  set  in  motion,  Crab  Q  thrust 
forward  her  forceps  over  the  top  of  the 
cylinder  and  held  it  down.  Another 
thrust,  and  the  iron  jaws  had  grasped  one 
of  the  two  ponderous  chains  by  which  the 
cylinder  was  suspended. 

The  other  end  of  the  cylinder  began  to 
rise,  but  at  this  moment  Crab  R,  apparently 
by  a  single  effort,  lifted  herself  a  foot 
higher  out  of  the  sea ;  her  pincers  flashed 
forward,  and  the  other  chain  was  grasped. 

The  two  crabs  were  now  placed  in  the 
most  extraordinary  position.  The  over 
hang  of  their  roofs  prevented  an  attack  on 
their  hulls  by  the  "  Llangaron,"  but  their 
unmailed  hulls  were  so  greatly  exposed 
that  a  few  shot  from  another  ship  could 
easily  have  destroyed  them.  But  as  any 
ship  firing  at  them  would  be  very  likely 
to  hit  the  "  Llangaron,"  their  directors 
felt  safe  on  this  point. 

Three  of  the  foremost  ironclads,  less 
than  two  miles  away,  were  heading  di 
rectly  for  them,  and  their  rams  might 
be  used  with  but  little  danger  to  the 
"Llangaron;"  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
three  swift  crabs  were  heading  directly  for 
these  ironclads. 

It  was  impossible  for  Crabs  Q  and  R  to 


144     THE   GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

operate  in  the  usual  way.  Their  massive 
forceps,  lying  flat  against  the  top  of  the 
cylinder,  could  not  be  twisted.  The  enor 
mous  chains  they  held  could  not  be  severed 
by  the  greatest  pressure,  and  if  both  crabs 
backed  at  once  they  would  probably  do  no 
more  than  tow  the  "  Llangaron "  stern 
foremost.  There  was,  moreover,  no  time 
to  waste  in  experiments,  for  other  rams 
would  be  coming  on,  and  there  were  not 
crabs  enough  to  attend  to  them  all. 

No  time  was  wasted.  Q  signalled  to  R, 
and  R  back  again,  and  instantly  the  two 
crabs,  each  still  grasping  a  chain  of  the 
cylinder,  began  to  sink.  On  board  the 
"  Llangaron  "  an  order  was  shouted  to  let 
out  the  cylinder  chains ;  but  as  these  chains 
had  only  been  made  long  enough  to  allow 
the  top  of  the  cylinder  to  hang  at  or  a 
little  below  the  surface  of  the  water,  a 
foot  or  two  of  length  was  all  that  could  be 
gained. 

The  davits  from  which  the  cylinder 
hung  were  thick  and  strong,  and  the  iron 
windlasses  to  which  the  chains  were  at 
tached  were  large  and  ponderous;  but 
these  were  not  strong  enough  to  withstand 
the  weight  of  two  crabs  with  steel-ar 
moured  roofs,  enormous  engines,  and  iron 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     145 

hull.  In  less  than  a  minute  one  davit 
snapped  like  a  pipe-stem  under  the  tre 
mendous  strain,  and  immediately  after 
ward  the  windlass  to  which  the  chain  was 
attached  was  torn  from  its  bolts,  and  went 
crashing  overboard,  tearing  away  a  portion 
of  the  stern-rail  in  its  descent. 

Crab  Q  instantly  released  the  chain  it 
had  held,  and  in  a  moment  the  great  cyl 
inder  hung  almost  perpendicularly  from 
one  chain.  But  only  for  a  moment.  The 
nippers  of  Crab  R  still  firmly  held  the 
chain,  and  the  tremendous  leverage  ex 
erted  by  the  falling  of  one  end  of  the  cyl 
inder  wrenched  it  from  the  rigidly  held 
end  of  its  chain,  and,  in  a  flash,  the  enor 
mous  stern-guard  of  the  "Llangaron" 
sunk,  end  foremost,  to  the  bottom  of  the 
channel. 

In  ten  minutes  afterward,  the  "  Llanga- 
ron,"  rudderless,  and  with  the  blades  of 
her  propellers  shivered  and  crushed,  was 
slowly  turning  her  starboard  to  the  wind 
and  the  sea,  and  beginning  to  roll  like  a 
log  of  eight  thousand  tons. 

Besides  the  "Llangaron,"  three  iron 
clads  were  now  drifting  broadside  to  the 
sea.  But  there  was  no  time  to  succour  dis 
abled  vessels,  for  the  rest  of  the  fleet  was 


146      THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

coming  on,  and  there  was  great  work  for 
the  crabs. 

Against  these  enemies,  swift  of  motion 
and  sudden  in  action,  the  torpedo-boats 
found  it  almost  impossible  to  operate,  for 
the  British  ships  and  the  crabs  were  so 
rapidly  nearing  each  other  that  a  torpedo 
sent  out  against  an  enemy  was  more  than 
likely  to  run  against  the  hull  of  a  friend. 
Each  crab  sped  at  the  top  of  its  speed  for 
a  ship,  not  only  to  attack,  but  also  to  pro 
tect  itself. 

Once  only  did  the  crabs  give  the  tor 
pedo-boats  a  chance.  A  mile  or  two  north 
of  the  scene  of  action,  a  large  cruiser  was 
making  her  way  rapidly  toward  the  re- 
peller,  which  was  still  lying  almost  motion 
less,  four  miles  to  the  westward.  As  it 
was  highly  probable  that  this  vessel  carried 
dynamite  guns,  Crab  Q,  which  was  the 
fastest  of  her  class,  was  signalled  to  go 
after  her.  She  had  scarcely  begun  her 
course  across  the  open  space  of  sea  before 
a  torpedo-boat  was  in  pursuit.  Fast  as 
was  the  latter,  the  crab  was  faster,  and 
quite  as  easily  managed.  She  was  in  a 
position  of  great  danger,  and  her  only 
safety  lay  in  keeping  herself  on  a  line  be 
tween  the  torpedo-boat  and  the  gun-boat, 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     147 

and  to  shorten  as  quickly  as  possible  the 
distance  between  herself  and  that  vessel. 

If  the  torpedo-boat  shot  to  one  side  in 
order  to  get  the  crab  out  of  line,  the  crab, 
its  back  sometimes  hidden  by  the  tossing 
waves,  sped  also  to  the  same  side.  When 
the  torpedo-boat  could  aim  a  gun  at  the 
crab  and  not  at  the  gun-boat,  a  deadly 
torpedo  flew  into  the  sea ;  but  a  tossing  sea 
and  a  shifting  target  were  unfavourable  to 
the  gunner's  aim.  It  was  not  long,  how 
ever,  before  the  crab  had  run  the  chase 
which  might  so  readily  have  been  fatal  to 
it,  and  was  so  near  the  gun-boat  that  no 
more  torpedoes  could  be  fired  at  it. 

Of  course  the  officers  and  crew  of  the 
gun-boat  had  watched  with  most  anxious 
interest  the  chase  of  the  crab.  The  vessel 
was  one  which  had  been  fitted  out  for 
service  with  dynamite  guns,  of  which  she 
carried  some  of  very  long  range  for  this 
class  of  artillery,  and  she  had  been  ordered 
to  get  astern  of  the  repeller  and  to  do  her 
best  to  put  a  few  dynamite  bombs  on 
board  of  her. 

The  dynamite  gun-boat  therefore  had 
kept  ahead  at  full  speed,  determined  to 
carry  out  her  instructions  if  she  should  be 
allowed  to  do  so;  but  her  speed  was  not 


148     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

as  great  as  that  of  a  crab,  and  when  the 
torpedo-boat  had  given  up  the  chase,  and 
the  dreaded  crab  was  drawing  swiftly 
near,  the  captain  thought  it  time  for  bra 
very  to  give  place  to  prudence.  With  the 
large  amount  of  explosive  material  of  the 
most  tremendous  and  terrific  character 
which  he  had  on  board,  it  would  be  the 
insanity  of  courage  for  him  to  allow  his 
comparatively  small  vessel  to  be  racked, 
shaken,  and  partially  shivered  by  the  pow 
erful  jaws  of  the  on-coming  foe.  As  he 
could  neither  fly  nor  fight,  he  hauled  down 
his  flag  in  token  of  surrender,  the  first  in 
stance  of  the  kind  which  had  occurred  in 
this  war. 

When  the  director  of  Crab  Q,  through 
his  lookout-glass,  beheld  this  action  on  the 
part  of  the  gun-boat,  he  was  a  little  per 
plexed  as  to  what  he  should  next  do.  To 
accept  the  surrender  of  the  British  vessel, 
and  to  assume  control  of  her,  it  was  neces 
sary  to  communicate  with  her.  The  com 
munications  of  the  crabs  were  made  entirely 
by  black-smoke  signals,  and  these  the  cap 
tain  of  the  gun-boat  could  not  understand. 
The  heavy  hatches  in  the  mailed  roof 
which  could  be  put  in  use  when  the  crab 
was  cruising,  could  not  be  opened  when 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     149 

she  was  at  her  fighting'  depth,  and  in  a 
tossing  sea. 

A  means  was  soon  devised  of  communi 
cating  with  the  gun-boat.  A  speaking-tube 
was  run  up  through  one  of  the  air-pipes  of 
the  crab,  which  pipe  was  then  elevated 
some  distance  above  the  surface.  Through 
this  the  director  hailed  the  other  vessel, 
and  as  the  air-pipe  was  near  the  stern  of 
the  crab,  and  therefore  at  a  distance  from 
the  only  visible  portion  of  the  turtle-back 
roof,  his  voice  seemed  to  come  out  of  the 
depths  of  the  ocean. 

The  surrender  was  accepted,  and  the 
captain  of  the  gun-boat  was  ordered  to  stop 
his  engines  and  prepare  to  be  towed. 
When  this  order  had  been  given,  the  crab 
moved  round  to  the  bow  of  the  gun-boat, 
and  grasping  the  cut-water  with  its.  for 
ceps,  reversed  its  engines  and  began  to 
back  rapidly  toward  the  British  fleet, 
taking  with  it  the  captured  vessel  as  a 
protection  against  torpedoes  while  in  tran 
sit. 

The  crab  slowed  up  not  far  from  one 
of  the  foremost  of  the  British  ships,  and 
coming  round  to  the  quarter  of  the  gun 
boat,  the  astonished  captain  of  that  vessel 
was  informed,  through  the  speaking-tube, 


150     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

that  if  he  would  give  his  parole  to  keep 
out  of  this  fight,  he  would  be  allowed  to 
proceed  to  his  anchorage  in  Portsmouth 
harbour.  The  parole  was  given,  and  the 
dynamite  gun-boat,  after  reporting  to  the 
flag-ship,  steamed  away  to  Portsmouth. 

The  situation  now  became  one  which 
was  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  naval 
warfare.  On  the  side  of  the  British,  seven 
war-ships  were  disabled  and  drifting  slowly 
to  the  south-east.  For  half  an  hour  no  ad 
vance  had  been  made  by  the  British  fleet, 
for  whenever  one  of  the  large  vessels  had 
steamed  ahead,  such  vessel  had  become  the 
victim  of  a  crab,  and  the  Vice-Admiral 
commanding  the  fleet  had  signalled  not  to 
advance  until  further  orders. 

The  crabs  were  also  lying-to,  each  to  the 
windward  of,  and  not  far  from,  one  of  the 
British  ships.  They  had  ceased  to  'make 
any  attacks,  and  were  resting  quietly  under 
protection  of  the  enemy.  This,  with  the 
fact  that  the  repeller  still  lay  four  miles 
ft  way,  without  any  apparent  intention  of 
taking  part  in  the  battle,  gave  the  situa 
tion  its  peculiar  character. 

The  British  Vice- Admiral  did  not  intend 
to  remain  in  this  quiescent  condition.  It 
was,  of  course,  useless  to  order  forth  his 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     151 

ironclads,  simply  to  see  them  disabled  and 
set  adrift.  There  was  another  arm  of  the 
service  which  evidently  could  be  used  with 
better  effect  upon  this  peculiar  foe  than 
could  the  great  battle-ships. 

But  before  doing  anything  else,  he  must 
provide  for  the  safety  of  those  of  his 
vessels  which  had  been  rendered  helpless 
by  the  crabs,  and  some  of  which  were  now 
drifting  dangerously  near  to  each  other. 
Despatches  had  been  sent  to  Portsmouth 
for  tugs,  but  it  would  not  do  to  wait  until 
these  arrived,  and  a  sufficient  number  of 
ironclads  were  detailed  to  tow  their  in 
jured  consorts  into  port. 

When  this  order  had  been  given,  the 
Vice-Admiral  immediately  prepared  to  re 
new  the  fight,  and  this  time  his  efforts 
were  to  be  directed  entirely  against  the 
repeller.  It  would  be  useless  to  devote 
any  further  attention  to  the  crabs,  espe 
cially  in  their  present  positions.  But  if 
the  chief  vessel  of  the  Syndicate's  fleet, 
with  its  spring  armour  and  its  terrible 
earthquake  bombs,  could  be  destroyed,  it 
was  quite  possible  that  those  sea-parasites, 
the  crabs,  could  also  be  disposed  of. 

Every  torpedo-boat  was  now  ordered  to 
the  front,  and  in  a  long  line,  almost  abreast 


152     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

of  each  other,  these  swift  vessels  —  the 
light-infantry  of  the  sea  —  advanced  upon 
the  solitary  and  distant  foe.  If  one 
torpedo  could  but  reach  her  hull,  the  Vice- 
Admiral,  in  spite  of  seven  disabled  iron 
clads  and  a  captured  gun-boat,  might  yet 
gaze  proudly  at  his  floating  flag,  even  if  his 
own  ship  should  be  drifting  broadside  to 
the  sea. 

The  line  of  torpedo-boats,  slightly  curv 
ing  inward,  had  advanced  about  a  mile, 
when  Repeller  No.  11  awoke  from  her 
seeming  sleep,  and  began  to  act,  The  two 
great  guns  at  her  bow  were  trained  up 
ward,  so  that  a  bomb  discharged  from  them 
would  fall  into  the  sea  a  mile  and  a  half 
ahead.  Slowly  turning  her  bow  from  side 
to  side,  so  that  the  guns  would  cover  a 
range  of  nearly  half  a  circle,  the  instanta 
neous  motor-bombs  of  the  repeller  were 
discharged,  one  every  half  minute. 

One  of  the  most  appalling  character 
istics  of  the  motor-bombs  was  the  silence 
which  accompanied  their  discharge  and 
action.  No  noise  was  heard,  except  the 
flash  of  sound  occasioned  by  the  removal 
of  the  particles  of  the  object  aimed  at, 
and  the  subsequent  roar  of  wind  or  fall  of 
water. 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     153 

As  each  motor-bomb  dropped  into  the 
channel,  a  dense  cloud  appeared  high  in 
the  air,  above  a  roaring,  seething  cauldron, 
hollowed  out  of  the  waters  and  out  of 
the  very  bottom  of  the  channel.  Into 
this  chasm  the  cloud  quickly  came  down, 
condensed  into  a  vast  body  of  water,  which 
fell,  with  the  roar  of  a  cyclone,  into  the 
dreadful  abyss  from  which  it  had  been 
torn,  before  the  hissing  walls  of  the  great 
hollow  had  half  filled  it  with  their  sweep 
ing  surges.  The  piled-up  mass  of  the 
redundant  water  was  still  sending  its 
maddened  billows  tossing  and  writhing  in 
every  direction  toward  their  normal  level, 
when  another  bomb  was  discharged ; 
another  surging  abyss  appeared,  another 
roar  of  wind  and  water  was  heard,  and 
another  mountain  of  furious  billows  up 
lifted  itself  in  a  storm  of  spray  and  foam, 
raging  that  it  had  found  its  place  usurped. 

Slowly  turning,  the  repeller  discharged 
bomb  after  bomb,  building  up  out  of  the 
very  sea  itself  a  barrier  against  its  ene 
mies.  Under  these  thundering  cataracts, 
born  in  an  instant,  and  coming  down  all 
at  once  in  a  plunging  storm ;  into  these 
abysses,  with  walls  of  water  and  floods 
of  cleft  and  shivered  rocks;  through  this 


154     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

wide  belt  of  raging  turmoil,  thrown  into 
new  frenzy  after  the  discharge  of  every 
bomb,  —  no  vessel,  no  torpedo,  could  pass. 
The  air  driven  off  in  every  direction  by 
tremendous  and  successive  concussions 
came  rushing  back  in  shrieking  gales, 
which  tore  up  the  waves  into  blinding 
foam.  For  miles  in  every  direction  the 
sea  swelled  and  upheaved  into  great  peaked 
waves,  the  repeller  rising  upon  these  almost 
high  enough  to  look  down  into  the  awful 
chasms  which  her  bombs  were  making. 
A  torpedo-boat  caught  in  one  of  the  re 
turning  gales  was  hurled  forward  almost 
on  her  beam  ends  until  she  was  under  the 
edge  of  one  of  the  vast  masses  of  descend 
ing  water.  The  flood  which,  from  even 
the  outer  limits  of  this  falling-sea,  poured 
upon  and  into  the  unlucky  vessel  nearly 
swamped  her,  and  when  she  was  swept 
back  by  the  rushing  waves  into  less  stormy 
waters,  her  officers  and  crew  leaped  into 
their  boats  and  deserted  her.  By  rare 
good-fortune  their  boats  were  kept  afloat 
in  the  turbulent  sea  until  they  reached 
the  nearest  torpedo-vessel. 

Five  minutes  afterward  a  small  but 
carefully  aimed  motor-bomb  struck  the 
nearly  swamped  vessel,  and  with  the  roar 


THE  GREAT  WAR    SYNDICATE.     155 

of  all  her  own  torpedoes  she  passed  into 
nothing. 

The  British  Vice-Admiral  had  carefully 
watched  the  repeller  through  his  glass,  and 
he  noticed  that  simultaneously  with  the 
appearance  of  the  cloud  in  the  air  pro 
duced  by  the  action  of  the  motor-bombs 
there  were  two  puffs  of  black  smoke  from 
the  repeller.  These  were  signals  to  the 
crabs  to  notify  them  that  a  motor-gun  had 
been  discharged,  and  thus  to  provide 
against  accidents  in  case  a  bomb  should 
fail  to  act.  One  puff  signified  that  a  bomb 
had  been  discharged  to  the  north  ;  two, 
that  it  had  gone  eastward ;  and  so  on.  If, 
therefore,  a  crab  should  see  a  signal  of  this 
kind,  and  perceive  no  signs  of  the  action 
of  a  bomb,  it  would  be  careful  not  to  ap 
proach  the  repeller  from  the  quarter  indi 
cated.  It  is  true  that  in  case  of  the  failure 
of  a  bomb  to  act,  another  bomb  would  be 
dropped  upon  the  same  spot,  but  the  in 
structions  of  the  War  Syndicate  provided 
that  every  possible  precaution  should  be 
taken  against  accidents. 

Of  course  the  Vice-Admiral  did  not 
understand  these  signals,  nor  did  he  know 
that  they  were  signals,  but  he  knew  that 
they  accompanied  the  discharge  of  a  motor- 


156      THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

gun.  Once  he  noticed  that  there  was  a 
short  cessation  in  the  hitherto  constant 
succession  of  water  avalanches,  and  dur 
ing  this  lull  he  had  seen  two  puffs  from 
the  repeller,  and  the  destruction,  at  the 
same  moment,  of  the  deserted  torpedo- 
boat.  It  was,  therefore,  plain  enough  to 
him  that  if  a  motor-bomb  could  be  placed 
so  accurately  upon  one  torpedo-boat,  and 
with  such  terrible  result,  other  bombs 
could  quite  as  easily  be  discharged  upon 
the  other  torpedo-boats  which  formed  the 
advanced  line  of  the  fleet.  When  the 
barrier  of  storm  and  cataract  again  began 
to  stretch  itself  in  front  of  the  repeller, 
he  knew  that  not  only  was  it  impossible 
for  the  torpedo-boats  to  send  their  mis 
sives  through  this  raging*  turmoil,  but 
that  each  of  these  vessels  was  itself  in 
danger  of  instantaneous  destruction. 

Unwilling,  therefore,  to  expose  his  ves 
sels  to  profitless  danger,  the  Vice-Admiral 
ordered  the  torpedo-boats  to  retire  from 
the  front,  and  the  whole  line  of  them  pro 
ceeded  to  a  point  north  of  the  fleet,  where 
they  lay  to. 

When  this  had  been  done,  the  repeller 
ceased  the  discharge  of  bombs ;  but  the 
sea  was  still  heaving  and  tossing  after  the 


TEE  GliEAT  WAR    SYNDICATE.     157 

storm,  when  a  despatch-boat  brought  orders 
from  the  British  Admiralty  to  the  flag-ship. 
Communication  between  the  British  fleet 
and  the  shore,  and  consequently  London, 
had  been  constant,  and  all  that  had  oc 
curred  had  been  quickly  made  known  to 
the  Admiralty  and  the  Government.  The 
orders  now  received  by  the  Vice-Admiral 
were  to  the  effect  that  it  was  considered 
judicious  to  discontinue  the  conflict  for 
the  day,  and  that  he  and  his  whole  fleet 
should  return  to  Portsmouth  to  receive 
further  orders. 

In  issuing  these  commands  the  British 
Government  was  actuated  simply  by  mo 
tives  of  humanity  and  common  sense. 
The  British  fleet  was  thoroughly  prepared 
for  ordinary  naval  warfare,  but  an  enemy 
had  inaugurated  another  kind  of  naval 
warfare,  for  which  it  was  not  prepared. 
It  was,  therefore,  decided  to  withdraw 
the  ships  until  they  should  be  prepared 
for  the  new  kind  of  warfare.  To  allow 
ironclad  after  ironclad  to  be  disabled 
and  set  adrift,  to  subject  every  ship  in  the 
fleet  to  the  danger  of  instantaneous  de 
struction,  and  all  this  without  the  possi 
bility  of  inflicting  injury  upon  the  enemy, 
would  not  be  bravery ;  it  would  be  stu- 


158     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

\  pidity.  It  was  surely  possible  to  devise 
a  means  for  destroying  the  seven  hostile 
ships  now  in  British  waters.  Until  action 
for  this  end  could  be  taken,  it  was  the 
part  of  wisdom  for  the  British  navy  to 
confine  itself  to  the  protection  of  British 
ports. 

When  the  fleet  began  to  move  toward 
the  Isle  of  Wight,  the  six  crabs,  which 
had  been  lying  quietly  among  and  under 
the  protection  of  their  enemies,  withdrew 
southward,  and,  making  a  slight  circuit, 
joined  the  repeller. 

Each  of  the  disabled  ironclads  was 
now  in  tow  of  a  sister  vessel,  or  of  tugs, 
except  the  "  Llangaron."  This  great  ship 
had  been  disabled  so  early  in  the  contest, 
and  her  broadside  had  presented  such  a 
vast  surface  to  the  north-west  wind,  that 
she  had  drifted  much  farther  to  the  south 
than  any  other  vessel.  Consequently, 
before  the  arrival  of  the  tugs  which  had 
been  sent  for  to  tow  her  into  harbour,  the 
"  Llangaron  "  was  well  on  her  way  across 
the  channel.  A  foggy  night  came  on, 
and  the  next  morning  she  was  ashore  on 
the  coast  of  France,  with  a  mile  of  water 
between  her  and  dry  land.  Fast-rooted 
in  a  great  sand-bank,  she  lay  week  after 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     159 

week,  with  the  storms  that  came  in  from 
the  Atlantic,  and  the  storms  that  came  in 
from  the  German  Ocean,  beating  upon  her 
tall  side  of  solid  iron,  with  no  more  effect 
than  if  it  had  been  a  precipice  of  rock. 
Against  waves  and  winds  she  formed  a 
massive  breakwater,  with  a  wide  stretch 
of  smooth  sea  between  her  and  the  land. 
There  she  lay,  proof  against  all  the  artil 
lery  of  Europe,  and  all  the  artillery  of  the 
sea  and  the  storm,  until  a  fleet  of  small 
vessels  had  taken  from  her  her  ponderous 
armament,  her  coal  and  stores,  and  she 
had  been  lightened  enough  to  float  upon 
a  high  tide,  and  to  follow  three  tugs  to 
Portsmouth. 

When  night  came  on,  Repeller  No.  11 
and  the  crabs  dropped  down  with  the 
tide,  and  lay  to  some  miles  west  of  the 
scene  of  battle.  The  fog  shut  them  in 
fairly  well,  but,  fearful  that  torpedoes 
might  be  sent  out  against  them,  they 
showed  no  lights.  There  was  little  dan 
ger  of  collision  with  passing  merchantmen, 
for  the  English  Channel,  at  present,  was 
deserted  by  this  class  of  vessels. 

The  next  morning  the  repeller,  preceded 
by  two  crabs,  bearing  between  them  a 
submerged  net  similar  to  that  used  at  the 


160     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

Canadian  port,  appeared  off  the  eastern 
end  of  the  Isle  of  Wight.  The  anchors 
of  the  net  were  dropped,  and  behind  it 
the  repeller  took  her  place,  and  shortly 
afterward  she  sent  a  flag-of-truce  boat  to 
Portsmouth  harbour.  This  boat  carried 
a  note  from  the  American  War  Syndicate 
to  the  British  Government. 

In  this  note  it  was  stated  that  it  was 
now  the  intention  of  the  Syndicate  to 
utterly  destroy,  by  means  of  the  instan 
taneous  motor,  a  fortified  post  upon  the 
British  coast.  As  this  would  be  done 
solely  for  the  purpose  of  demonstrating  the 
irresistible  destructive  power  of  the  motor- 
bombs,  it  was  immaterial  to  the  Syndicate 
what  fortified  post  should  be  destroyed, 
provided  it  should  answer  the  require 
ments  of  the  proposed  demonstration. 
Consequently  the  British  Government 
was  offered  the  opportunity  of  naming  the 
fortified  place  which  should  be  destroyed. 
If  said  Government  should  decline  to  do 
this,  or  delay  the  selection  for  twenty- 
four  hours,  the  Syndicate  would  itself  de 
cide  upon  the  place  to  be  operated  upon. 

Every  one  in  every  branch  of  the 
British  Government,  and,  in  fact,  nearly 
every  thinking  person  in  the  British 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     161 

islands,  had  been  racking  his  brains,  or 
her  brains,  that  night,  over  the  astounding 
situation;  and  the  note  of  the  Syndicate 
only  added  to  the  perturbation  of  the 
Government.  There  was  a  strong  feel 
ing  in  official  circles  that  the  insolent 
little  enemy  must  be  crushed,  if  the  whole 
British  navy  should  have  to  rush  upon 
it,  and  all  sink  together  in  a  common 
grave. 

But  there  were  cooler  and  more  pru 
dent  brains  at  the  head  of  affairs ;  and 
these  had  already  decided  that  the  con 
test  between  the  old  engines  of  war  and 
the  new  ones  was  entirely  one-sided. 
The  instincts  of  good  government  dic 
tated  to  them  that  they  should  be  ex 
tremely  wary  and  circumspect  during  the 
further  continuance  of  this  unexampled 
war.  Therefore,  when  the  note  of  the 
Syndicate  was  considered,  it  was  agreed 
that  the  time  had  come  when  good  states 
manship  and  wise  diplomacy  would  be 
more  valuable  to  the  nation  than  torpe 
does,  armoured  ships,  or  heavy  guns. 

There  was  not  the  slightest  doubt  that 
the  country  would  disagree  with  the 
Government,  but  on  the  latter  lay  the 
responsibility  of  the  country's  safety. 


162     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

There  was  nothing,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
ablest  naval  officers,  to  prevent  the  Syndi 
cate's  fleet  from  coming  up  the  Thames. 
Instantaneous  motor-bombs  could  sweep 
away  all  forts  and  citadels,  and  explode 
and  destroy  all  torpedo  defences,  and  Lon 
don  might  lie  under  the  guns  of  the  re- 
peller. 

In  consequence  of  this  view  of  the 
state  of  affairs,  an  answer  was  sent  to  the 
Syndicate's  note,  asking  that  further 
time  be  given  for  the  consideration  of 
the  situation,  and  suggesting  that  an  ex 
hibition  of  the  power  of  the  motor-bomb 
was  not  necessary,  as  sufficient  proof  of 
this  had  been  given  in  the  destruction 
of  the  Canadian  forts,  the  annihilation 
of  the  "  Craglevin,"  and  the  extraordinary 
results  of  the  discharge  of  said  bombs  on 
the  preceding  day. 

To  this  a  reply  was  sent  from  the  office 
of  the  Syndicate  in  New  York,  by  means 
of  a  cable  boat  from  the  French  coast, 
that  on  no  account  could  their  purpose 
be  altered  or  their  propositions  modified. 
Although  the  British  Government  might 
be  convinced  of  the  power  of  the  Syndi 
cate's  motor-bombs,  it  was  not  the  case 
with  the  British  people,  for  it  was  yet 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     163 

popularly  disbelieved  that  motor-bombs 
existed.  This  disbelief  the  Syndicate 
was  determined  to  overcome,  not  only  for 
the  furtherance  of  its  own  purposes,  but 
to  prevent  the  downfall  of  the  present 
British  Ministry,  and  a  probable  radical 
change  in  the  Government.  That  such  a 
political  revolution,  as  undesirable  to  the 
Syndicate  as  to  cool-headed  and  sensible 
Englishmen,  was  imminent,  there  could 
be  no  doubt.  The  growing  feeling  of 
disaffection,  almost  amounting  to  disloy 
alty,  not  only  in  the  opposition  party, 
but  among  those  who  had  hitherto  been 
firm  adherents  of  the  Government,  was 
mainly  based  upon  the  idea  that  the 
present  British  rulers  had  allowed  them 
selves  to  be  frightened  by  mines  and  tor 
pedoes,  artfully  placed  and  exploded. 
Therefore  the  Syndicate  intended  to  set 
right  the  public  mind  upon  this  subject. 
The  note  concluded  by  earnestly  urging 
the  designation,  without  loss  of  time,  of  a 
place  of  operations. 

This  answer  was  received  in  London  in 
the  evening,  and  all  night  it  was  the  sub 
ject  of  earnest  and  anxious  deliberation  in 
the  Government  offices.  It  was  at  last  de 
cided,  amid  great  opposition,  that  the  Syn- 


164     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

dicate's  alternative  must  be  accepted,  for 
it  would  be  the  height  of  folly  to  allow 
the  repeller  to  bombard  any  port  she 
should  choose.  When  this  conclusion  had 
been  reached,  the  work  of  selecting  a 
place  for  the  proposed  demonstration  of 
the  American  Syndicate  occupied  but 
little  time.  The  task  was  not  difficult. 
Nowhere  in  Great  Britain  was  there  a  for 
tified  spot  of  so  little  importance  as  Caer- 
daff,  on  the  west  coast  of  Wales. 

Caerdaff  consisted  of  a  large  fort  on  a 
promontory,  and  an  immense  castellated 
structure  on  the  other  side  of  a  small  bay, 
with  a  little  fishing  village  at  the  head  of 
said  bay.  The  castellated  structure  was 
rather  old,  the  fortress  somewhat  less  so ; 
and  both  had  long  been  considered  useless, 
as  there  was  no  probability  that  an  enemy 
would  land  at  this  point  on  the  coast. 

Caerdaff  was  therefore  selected  as  the 
spot  to  be  operated  upon.  No  one  could 
for  a  moment  imagine  that  the  Syndicate 
had  mined  this  place  ;  and  if  it  should  be 
destroyed  by  motor-bombs,  it  would  prove 
to  the  country  that  the  Government  had 
not  been  frightened  by  the  tricks  of  a 
crafty  enemy. 

An  hour  after  the  receipt  of  the  note  in 


THE  GREAT  WAR  SYNDICATE.     165 


166     THE   GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

which  it  was  stated  that  Caerdaff  had  been 
selected,  the  Syndicate's  fleet  started  for 
that  place.  The  crabs  were  elevated  to 
cruising  height,  the  repeller  taken  in  tow, 
and  by  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day  the 
fleet  was  lying  off  Caerdaff.  A  note  was 
sent  on  shore  to  the  officer  in  command, 
stating  that  the  bombardment  would  begin 
at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  next 
day  but  one,  and  requesting  that  informa 
tion  of  the  hour  appointed  be  instantly 
transmitted  to  London.  When  this  had 
been  done,  the  fleet  steamed  six  or  seven 
miles  off  shore,  T^here  it  lay  to  or  cruised 
about  for  two  nights  and  a  day. 

As  soon  as  the  Government  had  selected 
Caerdaff  for  bombardment,  immediate 
measures  were  taken  to  remove  the  small 
garrisons  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  fish 
ing  village  from  possible  danger.  When 
the  Syndicate's  note  was  received  by  the 
commandant  of  the  fort,  he  was  already 
in  receipt  of  orders  from  the  War  Office 
to  evacuate  the  fortifications,  and  to  super 
intend  the  removal  of  the  fishermen  and 
their  families  to  a  point  of  safety  farther 
up  the  coast. 

Caerdaff  was  a  place  difficult  of  access 
by  land,  the  nearest  railroad  stations  being 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     167 

fifteen  or  twenty  miles  away ;  but  on  the 
day  after  the  arrival  of  the  Syndicate's 
fleet  in  the  offing,  thousands  of  people 
made  their  way  to  this  part  of  the  country, 
anxious  to  see  —  if  perchance  they  might 
find  an  opportunity  to  safely  see — what 
might  happen  at  ten  o'clock  the  next 
morning.  Officers  of  the  army  and  navy, 
Government  officials,  press  correspondents, 
in  great  numbers,  and  curious  and  anxious 
observers  of  all  classes,  hastened  to  the 
Welsh  coast. 

The  little  towns  where  the  visitors  left 
the  trains  were  crowded  to  overflowing, 
and  every  possible  conveyance,  by  which 
the  mountains  lying  back  of  CaerdafT 
could  be  reached,  was  eagerly  secured, 
many  persons,  however,  being  obliged  to 
depend  upon  their  own  legs.  Soon  after 
sunrise  of  the  appointed  day  the  forts,  the 
village,  and  the  surrounding  lower  country 
were  entirely  deserted,  and  every  point 
of  vantage  on  the  mountains  lying  some 
miles  back  from  the  coast  was  occupied  by 
excited  spectators,  nearly  every  one  armed 
with  a  field-glass. 

A  few  of  the  guns  from  the  fortifica 
tions  were  transported  to  an  overlooking 
height,  in  order  that  they  might  be 


168     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

brought  into  action  in  case  the  repeller, 
instead  of  bombarding,  should  send  men 
in  boats  to  take  possession  of  the  evacu 
ated  fortifications,  or  should  attempt  any 
mining  operations.  The  gunners  for  this 
battery  were  stationed  at  a  safe  place  to 
the  rear,  whence  they  could  readily  reach 
their  guns  if  necessary. 

The  next  day  was  one  of  supreme  im 
portance  to  the  Syndicate.  On  this  day 
it  must  make  plain  to  the  world,  not 
only  what  the  motor-bomb  could  do,  but 
that  the  motor-bomb  did  what  was  done. 
Before  leaving  the  English  Channel  the 
director  of  Repeller  No.  11  had  received 
telegraphic  advices  from  both  Europe  and 
America,  indicating  the  general  drift  of 
public  opinion  in  regard  to  the  recent 
sea-fight ;  and,  besides  these,  many  Eng 
lish  and  continental  papers  had  been 
brought  to  him  from  the  French  coast. 

From  all  these  the  director  perceived 
that  the  cause  of  the  Syndicate  had  in  a 
certain  way  suffered  from  the  manner  in 
which  the  battle  in  the  channel  had  been 
conducted.  Every  newspaper  urged  that 
if  the  repeller  carried  guns  capable  of 
throwing  the  bombs  which  the  Syndicate 
professed  to  use,  there  was  no  reason  why 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     169 

every  ship  in  the  British  fleet  should  not 
have  been  destroyed.  But  as  the  repeller 
had  not  fired  a  single  shot  at  the  fleet,  and 
as  the  battle  had  been  fought  entirely  by 
the  crabs,  there  was  every  reason  to  be 
lieve  that  if  there  were  such  things  as 
motor-guns,  their  range  was  very  short, 
not  as  great  as  that  of  the  ordinary  dyna 
mite  cannon.  The  great  risk  run  by  one 
of  the  crabs  in  order  to  disable  a  dyna 
mite  gun-boat  seemed  an  additional  proof 
of  this. 

It  was  urged  that  the  explosions  in  the 
water  might  have  been  produced  by  tor 
pedoes  ;  that  the  torpedo-boat  which  had 
been  destroyed  was  so  near  the  repeller 
that  an  ordinary  shell  was  sufficient  to 
accomplish  the  damage  that  had  been 
done. 

To  gainsay  these  assumptions  was  im 
perative  on  the  Syndicate's  forces.  To 
firmly  establish  the  prestige  of  the  instan 
taneous  motor  was  the  object  of  the  war. 
Crabs  were  of  but  temporary  service. 
Any  nation  could  build  vessels  like 
them,  and  there  were  many  means  of  de 
stroying  them.  The  spring  armour  was  a 
complete  defence  against  ordinary  artil 
lery,  but  it  was  not  a  defence  against 


170     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

submarine  torpedoes.  The  claims  of  the 
Syndicate  could  be  firmly  based  on  noth 
ing  but  the  powers  of  absolute  annihi 
lation  possessed  by  the  instantaneous 
luotor-bomb. 

About  nine  o'clock  on  the  appointed 
morning,  Repeller  No.  11,  much  to  the 
surprise  of  the  spectators  on  the  high 
grounds  with  field-glasses  and  telescopes, 
steamed  away  from  Caerdaff.  What  this 
meant  nobody  knew,  but  the  naval  mili 
tary  observers  immediately  suspected  that 
the  Syndicate's  vessel  had  concentrated  at 
tention  upon  Caerdaff  in  order  to  go  over 
to  Ireland  to  do  some  sort  of  mischief 
there.  It  was  presumed  that  the  crabs  ac 
companied  her,  but  as  they  were  now  at 
their  fighting  depth  it  was  impossible  to 
see  them  at  so  great  a  distance. 

But  it  was  soon  perceived  that  Repeller 
No.  11  had  no  intention  of  running  away, 
nor  of  going  over  to  Ireland.  From  slowly 
cruising  about  four  or  five  miles  off  shore, 
she  had  steamed  westward  until  she  had 
reached  a  point  which,  according  to  the 
calculations  of  her  scientific  corps,  was 
nine  marine  miles  from  Caerdaff.  There 
she  lay  to  against  a  strong  breeze  from 
the  east. 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.          171 


172     THE  GREAT  WAR  SYNDICATE. 

It  was  not  yet  ten  o'clock  when  the  of 
ficer  in  charge  of  the  starboard  gun  re 
marked  to  the  director  that  he  supposed 
that  it  would  not  be  necessary  to  give  the 
smoke  signals,  as  had  been  done  in  the 
channel,  as  now  all  the  crabs  were  lying 
near  them.  The  director  reflected  a  mo 
ment,  and  then  ordered  that  the  signals 
should  be  given  at  every  discharge  of  the 
gun,  and  that  the  columns  of  black  smoke 
should  be  shot  up  to  their  greatest  height. 

At  precisely  ten  o'clock,  up  rose  from 
Repeller  No.  11  two  tall  jets  of  black 
smoke.  Up  rose  from  the  promontory  of 
Caerdaff,  a  heavy  gray  cloud,  like  an  im 
mense  balloon,  and  then  the  people  on  the 
hill-tops  and  highlands  felt  a  sharp  shock  of 
the  ground  and  rocks  beneath  them,  and 
heard  the  sound  of  a  terribL '  but  mo 
mentary  grinding  crush. 

As  the  cloud  began  to  settle,  it  was 
borne  out  to  sea  by  the  wind,  and  then  it 
was  revealed  that  the  fortifications  of 
Caerdaff  had  disappeared. 

In  ten  minutes  there  was  another  smoke 
signal,  and  a  great  cloud  over  the  castel 
lated  structure  on  the  other  side  of  the 
bay.  The  cloud  passed  away,  leaving  a 
vacant  space  on  the  other  side  of  the  bay. 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     173 

The  second  shock  sent  a  panic  through 
the  crowd  of  spectators,  The  next  earth 
quake  bomb  might  strike  among  them. 
Down  the  eastern  slopes  ran  hundreds  of 
them,  leaving  only  a  few  of  the  bravest 
civilians,  the  reporters  of  the  press,  and  the 
naval  and  military  men. 

The  next  motor-bomb  descended  into 
the  fishing  village,  the  comminuted  par 
ticles  of  which,  being  mostly  of  light 
material,  floated  far  out  to  sea. 

The  detachment  of  artillerists  who  had 
been,  deputed  to  man  the  guns  on  the 
heights  which  commanded  the  bay  had 
been  ordered  to  fall  back  to  the  mountains 
as  soon  as  it  had  been  seen  that  it  was  not 
the  intention  of  the  repeller  to  send  boats 
on  shore.  The  most  courageous  of  the 
spectators  trembled  a  little  when  the  fourth 
bomb  was  discharged,  for  it  came  farther 
inland,  and  struck  the  height  on  which  the 
battery  had  been  placed,  removing  all 
vestiges  of  the  guns,  caissons,  and  the 
ledge  of  rock  on  which  they  had  stood. 

The  motor-bombs  which  the  repeller 
was  now  discharging  were  of  the  largest 
size  and  greatest  power,  and  a  dozen  more 
of  them  were  discharged  at  intervals  of  a 
few  minutes.  The  promontory  on  which 


174     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

the  fortifications  had  stood  was  annihi 
lated,  and  the  waters  of  the  bay  swept 
over  its  foundations.  Soon  afterward  the 
head  of  the  bay  seemed  madly  rushing  out 
to  sea,  but  quickly  surged  back  to  fill  the 
chasm  which  yawned  at  the  spot  where  the 
village  had  been. 

The  dense  clouds  were  now  upheaved  at 
such  short  intervals  that  the  scene  of 
devastation  was  completely  shut  out  from 
the  observers  on  the  hills ;  but  every  few 
minutes  they  felt  a  sickening  shock,  and 
heard  a  momentary  and  horrible  crash  and 
hiss  which  seemed  to  fill  all  the  air.  The  in 
stantaneous  motor-bombs  were  tearing  up 
the  sea-board,  and  grinding  it  to  atoms. 

It  was  not  yet  noon  when  the  bombard 
ment  ceased.  No  more  puffs  of  black 
smoke  came  up  from  the  distant  repeller, 
and  the  vast  spreading  mass  of  clouds 
moved  seaward,  dropping  down  upon  St. 
George's  Channel  in  a  rain  of  stone  dust. 
Then  the  repeller  steamed  shoreward,  and 
when  she  was  within  three  or  four  miles 
of  the  coast  she  ran  up  a  large  white  flag 
in  token  that  her  task  was  ended. 

This  sign  that  the  bombardment  had 
ceased  was  accepted  in  good  faith  ;  and  as 
some  of  the  military  and  naval  men  had 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     175 

carefully  noted  that  each  puff  from  the 
repeller  was  accompanied  by  a  shock,  it 
was  considered  certain  that  all  the  bombs 
which  had  been  discharged  had  acted,  and 
that,  consequently,  no  further  danger  was 
to  be  apprehended  from  them.  In  spite  of 
this  announcement  many  of  the  spectators 
would  not  leave  their  position  on  the  hills, 


CAERDAFF  AFTER  THE  BOMBARDMENT. 

but  a  hundred  or  more  of  curious  and 
courageous  men  ventured  down  into  the 
plain. 

That  part  of  the  sea-coast  where  Caerdaff 
had  been  was  a  new  country,  about  which 
men  wandered  slowly  and  cautiously  with 
sudden  exclamations  of  amazement  and 
awe.  There  were  no  longer  promontories 
jutting  out  into  the  sea ;  there  were  no 
hillocks  and  rocky  terraces  rising  inland. 
In  a  vast  plain,  shaven  and  shorn  down  to 


176     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

a  common  level  of  scarred  and  pallid  rock, 
there  lay  an  immense  chasm  two  miles  and 
a  half  long,  half  a  mile  wide,  and  so  deep 
that  shuddering  men  could  stand  and  look 
down  upon  the  rent  and  riven  rocks  upon 
which  had  rested  that  portion  of  the  Welsh 
coast  which  had  now  blown  out  to  sea. 

An  officer  of  the  Royal  Engineers  stood 
on  the  seaward  edge  of  this  yawning 
abyss ;  then  he  walked  over  to  the  almost 
circular  body  of  water  which  occupied  the 
place  where  the  fishing  village  had  been, 
and  into  which  the  waters  of  the  bay  had 
flowed.  When  this  officer  returned  to 
London  he  wrote  a  report  to  the  effect  that 
a  ship  canal,  less  than  an  eighth  of  a  mile 
long,  leading  from  the  newly  formed  lake 
at  the  head  of  the  bay,  would  make  of 
this  chasm,  when  filled  by  the  sea,  the 
finest  and  most  thoroughly  protected 
inland  basin  for  ships  of  all  sizes  on  the 
British  coast.  But  before  this  report 
received  due  official  consideration  the 
idea  had  been  suggested  and  elaborated 
in  a  dozen  newspapers. 

Accounts  and  reports  of  all  kinds  de 
scribing  the  destruction  of  Caerdaff,  and 
of  the  place  in  which  it  had  stood,  filled 
the  newspapers  of  the  world.  Photo- 


THE  GEEAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     177 

graphs  and  pictures  of  Caerdaff  as  it  had 
been  and  as  it  then  was  were  produced  with 
marvellous  rapidity,  and  the  earthquake 
bomb  of  the  American  War  Syndicate  was 
the  subject  of  excited  conversation  in  every 
civilized  country. 

The  British  Ministry  was  now  the 
calmest  body  of  men  in  Europe.  The 
great  opposition  storm  had  died  away, 
the  great  war  storm  had  ceased,  and  the 
wisest  British  statesmen  saw  the  unmis 
takable  path  of  national  policy  lying 
plain  and  open  before  them.  There  was 
no  longer  time  for  arguments  and  strug 
gles  with  opponents  or  enemies,  internal 
or  external.  There  was  even  no  longer 
time  for  the  discussion  of  measures.  It 
was  the  time  for  the  adoption  of  a  meas 
ure  which  indicated  itself,  and  which  did 
not  need  discussion. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  day  of  the 
bombardment  of  Caerdaff,  Repeller  No. 
11,  accompanied  by  her  crabs,  steamed 
for  the  English  Channel.  Two  days  after 
ward  there  lay  off  the  coast  at  Brighton, 
with  a  white  flag  floating  high  above  her, 
the  old  "  Tallapoosa,"  now  naval  mistress 
of  the  world. 

Near  by  lay  a  cable  boat,  and  constant 


178     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

communication  by  way  of  France  was 
kept  up  between  the  officers  of  the  Ameri 
can  Syndicate  and  the  repeller.  In  a  very 
short  time  communications  were  opened 
between  the  repeller  and  London. 

When  this  last  step  became  known  to 
the  public  of  America,  almost  as  much 
excited  by  the  recent  events  as  the  pub 
lic  of  England,  a  great  disturbance  arose 
in  certain  political  circles.  It  was  argued 
that  the  Syndicate  had  no  right  to  nego 
tiate  in  any  way  with  the  Government  of 
England ;  that  it  had  been  empowered  to 
carry  on  a  war ;  and  that,  if  its  duties  in 
this  regard  had  been  satisfactorily  executed, 
it  must  now  retire,  and  allow  the  United 
States  Government  to  attend  to  its  foreign 
relations. 

But  the  Syndicate  was  firm.  It  had 
contracted  to  bring  the  war  to  a  satisfac 
tory  conclusion.  When  it  considered  that 
this  had  been  done,  it  would  retire  and 
allow  the  American  Government,  with 
whom  the  contract  had  been  made,  to 
decide  whether  or  not  it  had  been  properly 
performed. 

The  unmistakable  path  of  national  pol 
icy  which  had  shown  itself  to  the  wisest 
British  statesmen  appeared  broader  and 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     179 

plainer  when  the  overtures  of  the  Ameri 
can  War  Syndicate  had  been  received  by 
the  British  Government.  The  Ministry 
now  perceived  that  the  Syndicate  had  not 
waged  war ;  it  had  been  simply  exhibiting 
the  uselessness  of  war  as  at  present  waged. 
Who  now  could  deny  that  it  would  be 
folly  to  oppose  the  resources  of  ordinary 
warfare  to  those  of  what  might  be  called 
prohibitive  warfare. 

Another  idea  arose  in  the  minds  of  the 
wisest  British  statesmen.  If  prohibitive 
warfare  were  a  good  thing  for  America,  it 
would  be  an  equally  good  thing  for  Eng 
land.  More  than  that,  it  would  be  a 
better  thing  if  only  these  two  countries 
possessed  the  power  of  waging  prohibitive 
warfare. 

In  three  days  a  convention  of  peace 
was  concluded  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  American  Syndicate  acting  for  the 
United  States,  its  provisions  being  made 
subject  to  such  future  treaties  and  alliances 
as  the  governments  of  the  two  nations 
might  make  with  each  other.  In  six  days 
after  the  affair  at  Caerdaff,  a  committee  of 
the  American  War  Syndicate  was  in  Lon 
don,  making  arrangements,  under  the 
favourable  auspices  of  the  British  Govern- 


180     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

ment,  for  the  formation  of  an  Anglo- 
American  Syndicate  of  War. 

The  Atlantic  Ocean  now  sprang  into 
new  life.  It  seemed  impossible  to  imagine 
whence  had  come  the  multitude  of  vessels 
which  now  steamed  and  sailed  upon  its 
surface.  Among  these,  going  westward, 
were  six  crabs,  and  the  spring-armoured 
vessel,  once  the  "  Tallapoosa,"  going  home 
to  a  triumphant  reception,  such  as  had 
never  before  been  accorded  to  any  vessel, 
whether  of  war  or  peace. 

The  blockade  of  the  Canadian  port, 
which  had  been  effectively  maintained 
without  incident,  was  now  raised,  and  the 
Syndicate's  vessels  proceeded  to  an 
American  port. 

The  British  ironclad,  "  Adamant,"  at 
the  conclusion  of  peace  was  still  in  tow 
of  Crab  C,  and  off  the  coast  of  Florida. 
A  vessel  was  sent  down  the  coast  by  the 
Syndicate  to  notify  Crab  C  of  what  had 
occurred,  and  to  order  it  to  tow  the 
"  Adamant "  to  the  Bermudas,  and  there 
deliver  her  to  the  British  authorities. 
The  vessel  sent  by  the  Syndicate,  which 
was  a  fast  coast-steamer,  had  scarcely 
hove  in  sight  of  the  objects  of  her  search 
when  she  was  saluted  by  a  ten-inch  shell 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     181 

from  the  "  Adamant,"  followed  almost  im 
mediately  by  two  others.  The  commander 
of  the  "  Adamant "  had  no  idea  that  the 
war  was  at  an  end,  and  had  never  failed, 
during  his  involuntary  cruise,  to  fire  at 
anything  which  bore  the  American  flag, 
or  looked  like  an  American  craft. 

Fortunately  the  coast  steamer  was  not 
struck,  and  at  the  top  of  her  speed  retired 
to  a  greater  distance,  whence  the  Syndi 
cate  officer  on  board  communicated  with 
the  crab  by  smoke  signals. 

During  the  time  in  which  Crab  C  had 
had  charge  of  the  "  Adamant  "  no  commu 
nication  had  taken  place  between  the  two 
vessels.  Whenever  an  air-pipe  had  been 
elevated  for  the  purpose  of  using  therein 
a  speaking-tube,  a  volley  from  a  machine- 
gun  on  the  "  Adamant  "  was  poured  upon 
it,  and  after  several  pipes  had  been  shot 
away  the  director  of  the  crab  ceased  his 
efforts  to  confer  with  those  on  the  iron 
clad.  It  had  been  necessary  to  place  the 
outlets  of  the  ventilating  apparatus  of  the 
crab  under  the  forward  ends  of  some  of 
the  upper  roof-plates. 

When  Crab  C  had  received  her  orders, 
she  put  about  the  prow  of  the  great  war 
ship,  and  proceeded  to  tow  her  north- 


182     THE  GEE  AT  WAE   SYNDICATE. 

eastward,  the  commander  of  the  "  Ada 
mant"  taking  a  parting  crack  with  his 
heaviest  stern-gun  at  the  vessel  which  had 
brought  the  order  for  his  release. 

All  the  way  from  the  American  coast  to 
the  Bermuda  Islands,  the  great  "  Ada 
mant"  blazed,  thundered,  and  roared,  not 
only  because  her  commander  saw,  or 
fancied  he  saw,  an  American  vessel,  b^ut 
to  notify  all  crabs,  repellers,  and  any 
other  vile  invention  of  the  enemy  that 
may  have  been  recently  put  forth  to  blem 
ish  the  sacred  surface  of  the  sea,  that  the 
"Adamant"  still  floated,  with  the  heaviest 
coat  of  mail  and  the  finest  and  most  com 
plete  armament  in  the  world,  ready  to 
sink  anything  hostile  which  came  near 
enough  —  but  not  too  near. 

When  the  commander  found  that  he 
was  bound  for  the  Bermudas,  he  did  not 
understand  it,  unless,  indeed,  those  islands 
had  been  captured  by  the  enemy.  But 
he  did  not  stop  firing.  Indeed,  should  he 
find  the  Bermuda^  under  the  American 
flag,  he  would  fire  at  that  flag  and  what 
ever  carried  it,  as  long  as  a  shot  or  a  shell 
or  a  charge  of  powder  remained  to  him. 

But  when  he  reached  British  waters, 
and  slowly  entering  St.  George's  harbour, 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     183 

saw  around  him  the  British  flag  floating 
as  proudly  as  it  floated  above  his  own 
great  ship,  he  confessed  himself  utterly 
bewildered ;  but  he  ordered  the  men  at 
every  gun  to  stand  by  their  piece  until  he 
was  boarded  by  a  boat  from  the  fort,  and 
informed  of  the  true  state  of  affairs. 

But  even  then,  when  weary  Crab  C 
raised  herself  from  her  fighting  depth,  and 
steamed  to  a  dock,  the  commander  of  the 
"  Adamant "  could  scarcely  refrain  from 
sending  a  couple  of  tons  of  iron  into  the 
beastly  sea-devil  which  had  had  the  im 
pertinence  to  tow  him  about  against  his 
will. 

No  time  was  lost  by  the  respective  Gov 
ernments  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  in  ratifying  the  peace  made  through 
the  Syndicate,  and  in  concluding  a  military 
and  naval  alliance,  the  basis  of  which 
should  be  the  use  by  these  two  nations, 
and  by  no  other  nations,  of  the  instanta 
neous  motor.  The  treaty  was  made  and 
adopted  with  much  more  despatch  than 
generally  accompanies  such  agreements  be 
tween  nations,  for  both  Governments  felt 
the  importance  of  placing  themselves,  with 
out  delay,  in  that  position  from  which,  by 
means  of  their  united  control  of  paramount 


184     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

methods  of  warfare,  they  might  become 
the  arbiters  of  peace. 

The  desire  to  evolve  that  power  which 
should  render  opposition  useless  had  long 
led  men  from  one  warlike  invention  to 
another.  Every  one  who  had  constructed 
a  new  kind  of  gun,  a  new  kind  of  armour, 
or  a  new  explosive,  thought  that  he  had 
solved  the  problem,  or  was  on  his  way  to 
do  so.  The  inventor  of  the  instantaneous 
motor  had  done  it. 

The  treaty  provided  that  all  subjects 
concerning  hostilities  between  either  or 
both  of  the  contracting  powers  and  other 
nations  should  be  referred  to  a  Joint  High 
Commission,  appointed  by  the  two  powers ; 
and  if  war  should  be  considered  necessary, 
it  should  be  prosecuted  and  conducted  by 
the  Anglo-American  War  Syndicate,  with 
in  limitations  prescribed  by  the  High  Com 
mission. 

The  contract  made  with  the  new  Syndi 
cate  was  of  the  most  stringent  order,  and 
contained  every  provision  that  ingenuity 
or  foresight  of  man  could  invent  or  sug 
gest  to  make  it  impossible  for  the  Syndi 
cate  to  transfer  to  any  other  nation  the 
use  of  the  instantaneous  motor. 

Throughout  all  classes  in  sympathy  with 


THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     185 

the  Administrative  parties  of  Great  Brit 
ain  and  the  United  States  there  was  a 
feeling  of  jubilant  elation  on  account  of 
the  alliance  and  the  adoption  by  the  two 
nations  of  the  means  of  prohibitive  war 
fare.  This  public  sentiment  acted  even 
upon  the  opposition ;  and  the  majority  of 
army  and  navy  officers  in  the  two  coun 
tries  felt  bound  to  admit  that  the  arts  of 
war  in  which  they  had  been  educated 
were  things  of  the  past.  Of  course  there 
were  members  of  the  army  and  navy  in 
both  countries  who  deprecated  the  new 
state  of  things.  But  there  were  also  men, 
still  living,  who  deprecated  the  abolition 
of  the  old  wooden  seventy-four  gun  ship. 

A  British  artillery  officer  conversing 
with  a  member  of  the  American  Syndicate 
at  a  London  club,  said  to  him :  — 

"  Do  you  know  that  you  made  a  great 
mistake  in  the  beginning  of  your  opera 
tions  with  the  motor-guns?  If  you  had 
contrived  an  attachment  to  the  motor 
which  should  have  made  an  infernal  thun 
der-clap  and  a  storm  of  smoke  at  the  mo 
ment  of  discharge  it  would  have  saved 
you  a  lot  of  money  and  time  and  trouble. 
The  work  of  the  motor  on  the  Canadian 
coast  was  terrible  enough,  but  people  could 


186     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

see  no  connection  between  that  and  the 
guns  on  your  vessels.  If  you  could  have 
sooner  shown  that  connection  you  might 
have  saved  yourselves  the  trouble  of  cross 
ing  the  Atlantic.  And,  to  prove  this,  one 
of  the  most  satisfactory  points  connected 
with  your  work  on  the  Welsh  coast  was 
the  jet  of  smoke  which  came  from  the  re- 
peller  every  time  she  discharged  a  motor. 
If  it  had  not  been  for  those  jets,  I  believe 
there  would  be  people  now  in  the  opposi 
tion  who  would  swear  that  Caerdaff  had 
been  mined,  and  that  the  Ministry  were  a 
party  to  it." 

"Your  point  is  well  taken,"  said  the 
American,  "  and  should  it  ever  be  neces 
sary  to  discharge  any  more  bombs,  —  which 
I  hope  it  may  not  be,  —  we  shall  take  care 
£o  show  a  visible  and  audible  connection 
between  cause  and  effect." 

"  The  devil  take  it,  sir ! "  cried  an  old 
captain  of  an  English  ship-of-the-line,  who 
was  sitting  near  by.  "  What  you  are 
talking  about  is  not  war !  We  might  as 
well  send  out  a  Codfish  Trust  to  settle 
national  disputes.  In  the  next  sea-fight 
we'll  save  ourselves  the  trouble  of  gnaw 
ing  and  crunching  at  the  sterns  of  the 
enemy.  We'll  simply  send  a  note  aboard 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     187 

requesting  the  foreigner  to  be  so  good  as 
to  send  us  his  rudder  by  bearer,  which,  if 
properly  marked  and  numbered,  will  be 
returned  to  him  on  the  conclusion  of 
peace.  This  would  do  just  as  well  as 
twisting  it  off,  and  save  expense.  No,  sir, 
I  will  not  join  you  in  a  julep !  J  have 
made  no  alliance  over  new-fangled  inven 
tions !  Waiter,  fetch  me  some  rum  and 
hot  water  ! " 

In  the  midst  of  the  profound  satisfac 
tion  with  which  the  members  of  the 
American  War  Syndicate  regarded  the 
success  of  their  labours,  —  labours  alike 
profitable  to  themselves  and  to  the  re 
cently  contending  nations,  —  and  in  the 
gratified  pride  with  which  they  received 
the  popular  and  official  congratulations 
which  were  showered  upon  them,  there 
was  but  one  little  cloud,  one  regret. 

In  the  course  of  the  great  Syndicate 
War  a  life  had  been  lost.  Thomas  Hutch- 
ins,  while  assisting  in  the  loading  of  coal 
on  one  of  the  repellers,  was  accidentally 
killed  by  the  falling  of  a  derrick. 

The  Syndicate  gave  a  generous  sum  to 
the  family  of  the  unfortunate  man,  and 
throughout  the  United  States  the  occur 
rence  occasioned  a  deep  feeling  of  sym- 


188     THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

pathetic   regret.     A   popular  subscription 
was  started  to  build  a  monument  to  the 


TM.^;H^7^v;  ^   —  1 

^^Jo^tAT  WAR- 

MONUMENT  ERECTED  TO  THOMAS  HuTcnma. 

memory  of  Hutchins,  and  contributions 
came,  not  only  from  all  parts  of  the 
United  States,  but  from  many  persons  in 
Great  Britain  who  wished  to  assist  in  the 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     189 

erection  of  this  tribute  to  the  man  who 
had  fallen  in  the  contest  which  had  been 
of  as  much  benefit  to  their  country  as  to 
his  own. 

Some  weeks  after  the  conclusion  of  the 
treaty,  a  public  question  was  raised,  which 
at  first  threatened  to  annoy  the  American 
Government ;  but  it  proved  to  be  of 
little  moment.  An  anti-Administration 
paper  in  Peakville,  Arkansas,  asserted 
that  in  the  whole  of  the  published  treaty 
there  was  not  one  word  in  regard  to  the 
fisheries  question,  the  complications  aris 
ing  from  which  had  been  the  cause  of  the 
war.  Other  papers  took  up  the  matter, 
and  the  Government  then  discovered  that 
in  drawing  up  the  treaty  the  fisheries 
business  had  been  entirely  overlooked. 
There  was  a  good  deal  of  surprise  in 
official  circles  when  this  discovery  was 
announced ;  but  as  it  was  considered  that 
the  fisheries  question  was  one  which 
would  take  care  of  itself,  or  be  readily 
disposed  of  in  connection  with  a  number 
of  other  minor  points  which  remained  to 
be  settled  between  the  two  countries,  it 
was  decided  to  take  no  notice  of  the 
implied  charge  of  neglect,  and  to  let  the 
matter  drop.  And  as  the  opposition  party 


190     THE  GREAT  WAR   SYNDICATE. 

took  no  real  interest  in  the  question,  but 
little  more  was  said  about  it. 

Both  countries  were  too  well  satisfied 
with  the  general  result  to  waste  time  or 
discussion  over  small  matters.  Great 
Britain  had  lost  some  forts  and  some  ships ; 
but  these  would  have  been  comparatively 
useless  in  the  new  system  of  warfare.  On 
the  other  hand,  she  had  gained,  not  only 
the  incalculable  advantage  of  the  alliance, 
but  a  magnificent  and  unsurpassed  land 
locked  basin  on  the  coast  of  Wales. 

The  United  States  had  been  obliged 
to  pay  an  immense  sum  on  account  of  the 
contract  with  the  War  Syndicate,  but 
this  was  considered  money  so  well  spent, 
and  so  much  less  than  an  ordinary 
war  would  have  cost,  that  only  the  most 
violent  anti-Administration  journals  ever 
alluded  to  it. 

Reduction  of  military  and  naval  forces, 
and  gradual  disarmament,  was  now  the 
policy  of  the  allied  nations.  Such  forces 
and  such  vessels  as  might  be  demanded  for 
the  future  operations  of  the  War  Syndi 
cate  were  retained.  A  few  field  batteries 
of  motor-guns  were  all  that  would  be 
needed  on  land,  and  a  comparatively 
small  number  of  armoured  ships  would 


THE  GEE  AT  WAR   SYNDICATE.     191 

suffice  to  carry  the  motor-guns  that  would 
be  required  at  sea. 

Now  there  would  be  no  more  mere  ex 
hibitions  of  the  powers  of  the  instanta 
neous  motor-bomb.  Hereafter,  if  battles 
must  be  fought,  they  would  be  battles  of 
annihilation. 

This  is  the  history  of  the  Great  Syndi 
cate  War.  Whether  or  not  the  Anglo- 
American  Syndicate  was  ever  called  upon 
to  make  war,  it  is  not  to  be  stated  here. 
But  certain  it  is  that  after  the  formation 
of  this  Syndicate  all  the  nations  of  the 
world  began  to  teach  English  in  their 
schools,  and  the  Spirit  of  Civilization 
raised  her  head  with  a  confident  smile. 


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prior  to  due  date 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


DUE  NRLF    MAR  2?  1992 


m  2  2  1991 


ah1/ o  i 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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